Chapter 06 - Who to Choose

The afternoon classes and homeroom finally end.

The students starts pouring out from their classroom and headed to their clubs room to start their club activity. And of course the members of the 'going home club' starts their club activity by going home.

"I'm going to the archery range today." Miyako informed Yōta as they walk in steady pace side by side in the hallway full of students loitering around the area.

Koyuki, Touma, and Jun are already going home first since they had plan together.

Hideo was going to the baseball's field to practice and of course with Azumi's following behind him faithfully like always.

Kokoro on the other side is going to the tea ceremony club to practice her tea-making together with the club members there.

"Oh, you're going to your club for once?" Yōta raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised by her statement before he touches the middle frame of his glasses and raises it slightly. "Well, Good luck."

"What about you, Yõta?" Miyako tilts her head curiously.

"I'm going home. Sensei already informed me that the Kendo Club will start their activity in May. We also have practice match in the middle of the month, so he wants us to rest our body and spirit."

"I see. Then I'll be going." Miyako closed the distance between them and kiss Yōta's cheek before she smiles widely and skipping her way towards where the archery range at.

Yōta shakes his head in amused manner before he reaches for the outdoor shoes in his locker.

-Scene Change-

"But it sucks that we're going home in a group of four guys." Gakuto whines as he dejectedly slumps his shoulders, glancing at his friends for a second before sighs exaggeratedly.

In his way home, Yōta found the usual members of 'going home club' and approaches them, thus why he's currently together with Yamato, Takuya, and Gakuto.

Takuya shakes his head in exasperation, "You're always talking about girls, Gakuto."

"I just want woman. Don't you think so too, Yamato?"

"Hey, don't left me out!" Yõta retorts from the side.

Gakuto huffs and crosses his arms, "I'll ask you too if you're not having women all over chasing for your ass."

"Rude."

"It would depends on the girl to be honest." Yamato answered with a shrug, "For example, let's say you get impatient and starts going out with a girl with bad spending habits." He continued as he raises his index finger, "She would suck every penny out of you and leave for another man."

"Yeah, I'll have her suck me dry." Gakuto blushes and starts drooling in perverted manner.

"You're missing the point!" Yōta smacks Gakuto's shoulder with the back of his hand.

"Yeah, I think you've got it wrong." Takuya also retorts the musclehead.

"Oh shut up you two." Gakuto grumbled in annoyance.

Yamato hummed, "Well, with that aside. What about Kazuko, Gakuto?"

"I'm not interested in loving a dog. Besides..."

Yōta crosses his hands over his chest and stares the group with very serious look on his face, "She's mine."

"What he said." Gakuto shrugs his shoulders. He already knows about Yōta's feeling for Kazuko since their middle school.

This is nothing new.

Yamato hummed thoughtfully, "I guess you're right."

"Yeah, if someone want to try their chance with Kazuko, they have to pass Yōta first, and even if they succeeded on doing that, there's still Momo-senpai as the last wall." Takuya gave a chuckles at the thought.

"You damn right. No one is allowed to make a move on Kazuko-chan as long as I'm still breathing." Yōta exclaimed with so much determination that it suddenly lits his whole body ablaze.

Everyone around him are pretty much knew about his obvious crush for the youngest Kawakami.

The way he spoilt the girl and trying to support her as much as he can is pretty big sign for everyone to realize how far the man fell head over heels for the girl.

Kazuko herself also already fell head over heels for him. Everyone's realized that by seeing the girl sometimes sneak a glance at Yōta, how her entire mood always brightened up when Yōta was near her, how she always trying to positioned herself by Yōta's side.

It's pretty much obvious how both of them are have feeling for each others. Even the densest man like Capt's already figuring that out.

Maybe this is the reason why Yōta never answered Miyako's love despite how openly the girl's showing her affection and love to the man.

Ignoring the crazy man behind them, they once again continue their conversation, "And Miyako is out of question."

"Yeah, she's obsessed with Yōta. And I don't have any feelings for her too." Gakuto nods his head, "Oh, and I want a girl with a big boobs too. Since I'm a nice guy, so I need someone who would suit me."

"I can't grasp her personality, but there's a first-year student with great body at the dorm."

"Mayuzumi-san, right?" Yōta once again joined the conversation after he's done shouting his love for Kazuko to the world to hear.

"Oh, right. You're quite close with her. And I heard that you had duel against her too. What do you think about her?"

Yōta hummed thoughtfully as he fixes his glasses, "I won't say that I'm close with her. She's kind and humble girl, but excessively self-conscious too. You must have realized how often her expression cramps up when she greeted us."

"Huh? That scary face she always made because she was nervous!?" Yamato asked in shock.

The fuck? He thought the girl was having grudge on him or something because with how she always glared at him with so much intensity like he's been killing her beloved dog or something.

Yamato ran his fingers over his hair and sighs tiredly, "How much awkward that girl is... If she's simply being nervous would wearing that kind of scary expression..."

"Well, just try to speak normally to her when you had the chance. Despite her awkwardness in communicating with others, she's pretty much a good girl. She's good at cooking too, I often cook lunch and dinner together with her lately."

Gakuto simply waves his hand, "I'm not interested in first-year students. I need a girl in the same grade or older."

"And you're constantly dumped by Momo-senpai too..." Takuya commented from the side.

Gakuto raised his eyebrows in response, "What about you, Moro? What do you think about real women instead of 2D girls?"

"I like 2D as 2D, but there are times when I want a girlfriend..." Takuya sighed.

"Then you have to look at them in the eyes when you talk to them."

Takuya groaned, "Ugh. I'm not used to it outside of the girls in our group... So it's embarrassing."

"I guess we still have a long ways to go." Yamato smiled as he stuffs his hands in his pocket.

"You're right." Yōta hummed.

""You're not included.""

Yamato, Gakuto, and Takuya said at the same time as they give Yõta a full course of deadpanned stares.

"HEY!"

The three of them chuckles at the desired reaction from Yõta.

"Well, see ya guys. I'm going to go to the gym now to build my body of steel." Gakuto said as he's flexing his big muscles and leaves the group.

"I'm going to go play a game. See you tomorrow." Takuya waved his hand to his friends before leaving too.

"Bye. I guess I'll read the novel I borrowed." Yamato waved back to Takuya before looking to Yōta beside him, "What about you, Yōta?"

Yōta puts his hands on the back of his head in response, "I guess I'll swing my sword in the backyard."

"Training maniac."

"Yeah, yeah."

Yamato slides the door open and enters the dorm together with Yōta as they take out their shoes and places it in the shoe box.

"Oh yeah, I have to get a part-time job in preparation for the summer." Yamato said as he scratches the back of his head.

"Are you short on cash right now?" Yōta raised his eyebrows.

"Kinda..."

Just when they step their foot in the hallway, a familiar robot suddenly appeared from the corner and greeted them both, "What are you guys talking about?"

Yamato hummed, "I'm just wondering if my parents are doing well on the road. And I'm hoping that they'll send me more money."

"My mom already sent me money last month, but I think I'll get a part-time job too." Yōta gently taps the floor with his feet. "So, if you know a good place that's recruiting, tell me."

"Sure." Yamato nods his head.

"Oh, right, both of you. Master is..."

""Yeah, we know."" Yamato and Yōta said at the same time.

"We saw the news. He caught the guy who didn't pay his bill, right?" Yōta scratches the back of his head.

Yamato sighs, "Man, what could he be doing now?"

"Oh, welcome home, Yamato, Yōta!" A cheerful voice belonged to a man with brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair greeted them.

And just as they were talking about him, Capt's already back at the dorm, and he's eating green onion ramen in Yamato's room.

"Man, it took a long time before the cops released me. Here, have souvernir, both of you." He said as he hands them a green onion cracker.

Yōta raised his eyebrows at the crackers in their leader's hand. But not before long, he grabs the cracker as he cracks a grin towards Shōichi and their leader also doing the same.

"Oh. Cracker~! Sweet Cracker~" Yōta sings with high notes.

Shōichi's then following up with low notes, "Sour Cracker~"

"It's hard to bite using baby's milk teeth! But it's good for health~!"

"It's even hard to bite using grandpa's bad dentures! And it's bad for teeth~!" Yōta and Shōichi opened their mouth wide and show their milky teeth to Yamato before they lock their arm together and starts skipping in circle.

""It's the best snacks ever~!"" They finished the song together while taking a bite out of the cracker at the same time before laughing their asses off on the tatami floor.

""HAHAHA""

This is Kazama Shōichi, the leader of the Kazama Family. He's a boy that, unlike his peers, is more interested in adventure and having fun rather chasing girls.

"I still don't understand that song at all." Yamato shakes his head while smiling fondly at these two childish antics.

He still remembers this song these two made when they're still kid. It's a song they often used just to upset the poor grandpa with bad dentures living in the neighborhood in the past.

"By the way, cops, huh... Does that kind of thing take a long time?"

Shōichi places his hands on the hips and sighs, "I told them that Saitama is a nice place, and they got so happy that they told me how great it was."

"Why were you in Saitama anyway, Capt?" Yōta asked as he takes another bite out of the cracker.

Shōichi scratches the back of his head, "A person at my work is from Saitama, and he would talk about staple goods like green onions and beef like it's awesome food."

"Ah..."

"I suddenly wanted to have some, so I went out like the wind during the weekend."

"A journey, huh? You must really like them." Yamato hummed, "I thought you learned your lesson after you spent the night under a bridge last time."

"It's basically his nature, you can't stop him. Just like you and your connection making. Me and my sword training." Yōta casually said as he finished the cracker.

"Yōta is right! It's in my nature to take a journey filled with a lot of adventuring!" Shōichi smiled widely before he frowns, "But then again last time was scary. When I woke up, an old man I didn't know was trying to take off my clothes. Well, it was fine because I managed to get away."

"Yeah, you're pretty lucky back then, man. If that was me, I'll chase that old man and beat the shit out of him for trying to sexual harrassing me." Yōta grips the bokutō on his side with intense glare forming on his face.

"Haha, I'm sure you will." Shōichi laughed as he smacks Yōta's shoulder, "Well, if I ever find that old man again, I'll let him feel the same fear I experienced."

Yamato sweatdropped in response, "I think he'll enjoy it instead."

"Oh crap!" Shōichi suddenly shouted in panic, making Yōta and Yamato raised their eyebrows, "It's time for work!"

He grabs a bag full of green onions and gets up.

"What's with those green onions?"

"The restaurant lady gave them to me as a souvenir and to show her gratitude." Shōichi pats the bag while smiling, "I'll give you the rest of the ramen. See ya!"

And with that Capt leaves in hurry, leaving two men staring motionlessly at the bowl of ramen on tatami floor. The room's filled with the smell of the ramen by now.

And the smell sure is appetizing.

"So..." Yamato started, but get cut off by Yōta.

"You can have it. I'm not in the mood for ramen, anyway." Yōta waved his hand casually before turning his back to Yamato, "I'll change my clothes now."

"Sure." Yamato waved back before he excitedly approaching the bowl of ramen and notice something, "THERE'S ONLY THE SOUP LEFT!!!"

"HAHAHAHA!!!" Yōta on the other side laughed his ass off from inside of his room when he heard Yamato's loud voice.

He already realized something was wrong with the ramen when Shōichi offered the ramen to them, there's no way that leader of theirs would give a ramen for free like that.

Shōichi who just left the dorm starts to laugh when he also heard Yamato's loud voice before he realized someone is standing in front of him.

"Oh..." A soft surprised voice coming out from the person in front of him which revealed to be Yukie, hugging her sword tightly, showing how nervous she is right now.

"Welcome back." Shōichi greets the girl before he pinches his chin between the thumb and index finger, looking at the nervous girl from head-to-toe, "You're Nakamura-san living on the second floor, right?"

Yukie shakes her head frantically, "N-No. I'm Mayuzumi Yukie."

"Oh, was that it? I'm sorry." Shōichi raised his eyebrows in response, "Here. I'll give you some green onions to make amends." He continued as he takes a few out of the bag and hands them to her.

"...Eh?" Yukie looks flabbergasted at the gesture as she looks at the green onions on top of her palms, "For me...?"

Shōichi doesn't bother to answer her and simply waves his hand to the girl, "Ciao!"

"Cha!?" Her eyes opened wide and she once again looks at the green onions in her hands, "H-How should I respond in a case like this...?" She muttered to herself.

When she raised her head to look at Shōichi, the man is already gone without any sound, leaving her alone, "Oh, he's already gone. But I received these green onions..."

"Someone give me a present." She raised the green onions to the air, looking at it with a big smile on her face before her expression suddenly turns 180 degree into a nasty grin and glare, "I did it, Matsukaze."

"You did it, Mayucchi! Keep at it!" Someone or something said to her.

She nods her head happily in response, "Okay!"

"... What are you talking to yourself for?" Reiko asked as she opens the door to her house, looking at the girl with weird and worried gaze.

"Huh!?" Yukie looks surprised when Reiko suddenly appeared, in her perspective, "Uh, um..." She stumbles on her words for a bit before she straighten her body up, "It's nothing! G-Good bye!"

And with that, the girl starts running away from Reiko and enter the dorm in rush.

"Both of the girls at the dorm sure are eccentric." Reiko simply shakes her head in response before she grinned widely, "Well, I'm happy because all four of the boys are jackpots."

-Scene Change-

After swinging his bokutō 1000 times non-stop and doing all kinds of katas in the noon until evening, Yōta, after he changed his clothes, started prepare the dinner for the tenants of the dorm together with Yukie and Reiko.

With three of them holding the battlefield in the kitchen, it didn't take long for them prepare all of the dinner with the best result.

And after eating the dinner, Yōta and Yamato takes a bath together, they're trying to invite Tadakatsu, but the man scowled at them and tell them to go by themselves thus why there's only two of them right now in the bath.

Thanks to Kawakami City's deep subterranean development and the excavation of hot springs, this drom has hot spring water.

Even Momoyo and Kazuko come here from time to time to take a bath.

But the woman's bath is on the second floor and the men's bath is on the first floor. So incident you might expect never do happen...

"Well, time to take a bath." Miyako suddenly came out of nowhere, and casually trying to enter the men's bath room.

"Hey." Yōta as usual is quick in response as he grabs Miyako's hoodie and hold her back from entering the men's bath room.

Upon holding back by Yōta, Miyako stopped in her tracks and fakes a surprise face when she looks at Yōta, "Oh, I'm sorry. I came into the wrong room."

"Yeah, wrong my ass. You saw us come in here."

"And remember, I'm still here." Yamato deadpanned at Miyako.

While he appreciates the eye candy of naked women, but he won't ever accepted an eye candy coming from his family. Especially if the girl is in love with his best friend.

That's a no-no.

"Tch." With a clicks of tongue, Miyako goes back to upstairs. It's unfair how the girls can go wherever they want in the dorms.

But guys can't go up to the second floor without permission from the girls, or they'll be dragged through the city and be expelled.

A former tenant of Tadakatsu's room was the victim of this.

"Man, that girl is so bold." Yamato commented as he takes off all of his clothes and puts it in the basket.

"Yeah, she's been like this ever since we enter the high school." Yōta hummed and followed after Yamato.

"I guess since her puberty was over. She's trying to get more aggressive on making you fall for her." Yamato shrugged before he turns the faucet around to fills the bucket with clean water.

"Gah! She's so difficult!" Yōta flails his arms to the air in frustration before he sits on the stool and lets out an exaggerated sigh.

Both of them starts washing over their bodies with clean water. They need to clean their body first before entering the hot spring.

That was a common sense, after all.

"Yeah, who would have thought a skinny girl back then would turn into a beautiful and sexy girl like she is right now." Yamato dips his feet first into the hot spring before finally drowns his lower body inside the warm water.

"You're right. But then again, I'm happy for that. It means she's growing nice and healthy." Yōta creases his eyebrows when he remembers the first time he met Miyako as he joins Yamato entering the hot spring.

The girl was so skinny like a skeleton that it won't be exaggerated that if someone accidentally bumps her, the girl would break apart.

But looking at her now, he's really happy that Miyako is so healthy and grows nicely right now.

It means she was fed and cared properly by her father after he takes the custody for her from her abusive mother.

"You're right. She's our family right now, so I'm happy for her too." Yamato sighs and leans his back to the side of the hot spring and looks above. "I've been wondering now..."

"Hm?"

"The reason why you don't accept Miyako's love is because you love Wanko, right?"

"..." Yōta closes his eyes and leans his back too, "You are right. I am indeed in love with Kazuko, but..."

"You started to love Miyako as well." Yamato finished Yōta's sentence while closing his eyes.

Yōta becomes silence for a moment before he sighs tiredly and smashes his face onto the water, "..."

"You're feeling conflicted." Yamato started as he plays with the water with his finger, "You don't know who to choose between them, even if you decide to choose one, you don't want the other to feel hurt by your decision, thus the reason why you're so indecisive right now."

Yōta could only groans inaudibly in response.

Yamato rolled his eyes and splashes the warm water in Yōta's direction, "If you don't want any of them to get hurt by you for choosing one of them. Then the answer for your problem is simple, isn't it?"

Yōta turns his head slightly towards Yamato, ushering the man to continue.

"Just choose both of them."

"Huh!?" Yōta jolted up in surprise when he heard that suggestion.

Choosing both of them? Is he serious? This isn't some Harem Anime where he can just plucks some beautiful flower in the street and brings them back to his home.

"Like hell they will agree to that!"

"You won't know that." Yamato raised his eyebrows in response, "Rather than always trying stay neutral like this, you should at least try to talk with both of them regarding this matter. It's still better than leaving them both hanging like this or worst, two-timing them." He continued before he gets out of the hot spring.

"And you seemed like you've forgotten about something important."

Yōta frowns in response. He forgot about something important?

"Your upbringing." Yamato deadpanned at Yōta. "Just remember on how many your grandfather's wives are?"

Yōta opened his mouth wide, and the gears in his head suddenly clicked up. Now that he thought about it, that's true.

His upbringing as a child of great family in Japan will surely help him in this situation.

While there's saying that polygamy in Japan is illegal, it's not quite true. It's simply won't be allowed by the government if the man or the woman couldn't afford to support their harem.

As long as you financially stable and can support your wives and children in the future, then it's okay for you to have wife more than one or concubines.

Yōta's grandfather was the prime example of this; he had 7 legal wives and 9 concubines living in Sugimura's main household in Hokkaido.

Kuki "Emperor" Mikado also had concubines if what Hideo said is true. Then again Hideo is not a man who would lie to his friends, which means it's true.

"Well, I'll be going first."

After saying his share of thought, Yamato leave the men's bath room with Yōta's looking at the ceiling above with blank looks.

He just hopes everything will turn be alright when he's bringing this topic to the girls. He really doesn't want to hurt both of them, that's the last thing he would like to do.