*Note: Enjoy the chapter!
And don't forget to give me your oppinions and suggestions in the comments. Thanks for your support!
And have a good day :)
...
Yami had sat down next to Akira, ignoring the surprised looks from everyone around her. After a few seconds of silence, the room filled with murmurs about what they had just witnessed.
"Excuse me, you must be the new student everyone is talking about. Am I wrong?" – Momioka asked.
"I'm new, yes," – Yami replied.
"How do you know Akira, if you don't mind me asking?" – Mio asked immediately.
Suddenly, the new exchange student had walked up to Akira and sat next to him as if they had known each other for a long time. Obviously, there had to be a reasonable explanation.
"We are..." – Yami tried to say.
"Old friends. We met a few years ago, but her parents moved abroad for a while. Luckily, they returned to Japan a few days ago and settled here. Naturally, Yami and I got back in touch right away, and she asked to enroll in the same school as me" - I explained quickly.
Another friend? Well, yeah, it was the first thing that came to my mind. The reason I didn't come up with a more elaborate story is because, even though I knew Yami would be coming to school, I didn't think she'd show up and come straight to me. In the original manga, Yami never actively approaches Rito, it's usually Rito who runs into her, often by accident.
In fact, I remember most of their encounters ended with Rito accidentally grabbing her boobs, butt, or even ending up with his mouth on her crotch (through her panties), which would always result in an enraged Yami chasing him around school with a giant fist made of her hair.
By the way, now that I think about it: why was no one ever alarmed by that? Once again, manga logic makes no sense.
But back to the matter at hand, I never expected Yami to come directly to me, for the reasons I just mentioned. I guess the conversation I had with her yesterday really changed something. Unlike her manga counterpart, she seems to have lost all desire to kill me, and instead… she's just curious.
"Another friend? How many friends do you have?" – Momika asked.
"This..." – I tried to say.
And what should I say? There are still more girls to come and I can't always make the same excuse, although to be honest it doesn't matter because once I incorporate them into my harem, I will be able to tell them the truth and there will be no need for lies. Although for now it would be best to come up with lies that are a little more credible.
"Risa... don't you see that Akira-kun is uncomfortable with that question?" – Haruna said with a slight frown.
But Momioka realized something.
"Since when do you call him 'Akira-kun'? I remember a few days ago it was Sato-kun. What has changed now?" – Momioka asked with a mocking smile.
Hearing this, Haruna blushed so hard that her face looked like a tomato. But Momioka was right. Since when did she start calling me "Akira-kun"? Just last week, I remember her calling me "Sato-kun."
To be honest, I don't really care how they address me. I respect Japanese culture, but as someone who wasn't originally from Japan (in my past life), the whole naming convention doesn't really affect me, even now, living in Akira's body.
But for someone like Haruna, who's fully Japanese, it's different. She would only call someone by their first name if she felt very close to them. I knew this would happen eventually, but… why so soon?
"Ah, this, I... it just happened!" – Haruna quickly said.
Why did she start calling Akira by his name? She doesn't know, it just happened.
"But it's true that it's disrespectful on my part, I'm sorry, Sato-kun!" – Haruna said.
Calling a person by their name in Japan without the permission of the person themselves was quite disrespectful.
"Don't worry, Sairenji-san, you can call me Akira-kun if you want, but in return I also want to call you Haruna-san. What do you think?" – I ventured to say.
This is a very important step, because if she accepts, it means that Haruna already considers me someone close to her, friend or not, that is not important because as I have already said, feelings of love take time and I have a lot of time.
"Ah, this, I...!" – Haruna stammered.
She didn't know what to say. Should she allow Akira to call her that when they had only been friends for a week? But even though only a week passed, they had advanced so far in their relationship that it seemed that they had been friends for years, besides, it is not as if he was going to call her only Haruna, he still used a prefix and although it was embarrassing, for some reason it did not bother her.
"W-well, y-you can do it if you want..." – Haruna said embarrassed.
"Then I'll also call you Haruna and in return you can call me Lala!" – Lala said suddenly.
"You can also call me Mio-chan or Mio-san if you want. In return I will call you Lala and Akira-kun" – Mio said.
"You can also call me Risa if you want, but in exchange I will also call you by your names" – said Momioka.
"You can call me whatever you want" – Yami said.
She didn't really care what they called her, anyway she didn't have a last name and Yami was the name Akira gave her, her previous name was Konjiki no Yami, a professional assassin known throughout the galaxy, but she left that behind... now it was just Yami and nothing else.
"Perfect!" – Lala said cheerfully.
"Sounds good to me" – I nodded.
Apparently my relationship with the girls was progressing quite well because they had even given me permission to call them by their names and even if it is using prefixes, even so this marks a before and after in our relationship as friends.
"You're doing well, Akira" – I thought.
I was surprised at how well things were going for me so far, but I wasn't entirely confident—because if life has taught me anything, it's that no matter how high you rise, things can always come crashing down. Maybe everything is going smoothly now, but tomorrow it could all fall apart. I have to stay cautious.
The rest of lunch went by normally, well, if you consider the dozens of questions Risa and Mio bombarded Yami with as "normal." She didn't seem too interested in answering, usually replying with just monosyllables or short sentences. Even so, Lala, Haruna, Risa, and Mio seemed to get along quite well with Yami. This kind of ideal environment is perfect because once I've included them in my harem, there won't be any need to worry about building good relationships between them, they will be already friends by then.
Now, about the Yui problem. I tried to talk to her today, but every time I approached her, she ran away and deliberately avoided me. I don't think I'll be able to convince her today, but tomorrow I'll look for her and make things right, even if I have to spend the entire lunch break just talking to her. That's a promise.
However, what Akira didn't know was that someone in particular had overheard part of the conversation he'd had with the girls that day and that someone was Yuuki Rito. Actually, it wasn't like he had been spying on them. His friend Saruyama had made sure to grab a table right next to theirs so he could eavesdrop and gossip, even saving a seat for Rito, who had no choice but to sit next to him. It's not that Rito wanted to listen, but since he had the chance to hear everything without looking like he was doing it on purpose… well, he might as well.
But poor Rito was feeling down from what he had heard. Haruna had actually allowed Akira to call her by her first name! That was unthinkable for Rito, who until now had only been able to call her "Sairenji-san" and had never dared to use her name despite knowing her for years. How had Akira managed to get that far in just a single week? Rito couldn't wrap his head around it, but one thing was certain: Akira and Haruna were now closer than ever, and Rito began to feel a growing sense of danger within him.
…
After school.
Saruyama and Rito were sitting on a nearby bench, talking about what they had heard today.
"Have you heard it all?" - asked Saruyama.
"Yes, but... What do you want me to do?" – Rito asked helplessly.
"Dude, you have to act now! Don't you see that this Akira likes Sairenji-san?" – said Saruyama.
"Don't talk nonsense, they're just good friends. In addition, Akira already has a fiancée, Lala. It's obvious that he doesn't try to flirt with Sairenji-san or anything like that" - Rito said.
"Are you stupid? Although it is true that they are engaged, they are not married and can always change their minds. Can you assure me 100% that Akira will not cancel the engagement to date Sairenji-san?" – Saruyama asked.
"This... I..." – Rito tried to say.
But he couldn't say anything because he didn't have an answer to that question. It is true that although Akira and Lala were engaged, they were not yet married and many things could happen until they were married. It is possible that Akira separated from Lala and fell in love with Haruna and she fell in love with him. But there was also the possibility that they didn't, after all, Akira and Lala seemed very close.
"Do you see what I'm telling you? They might both fall in love if you don't act now. Are you going to allow that boy to steal Sairenji-san from you after all the efforts you have made to try to conquer her?" – Saruyama asked.
Efforts? What kind of efforts?It was true that he had tried hard to confess his feelings, but every single time ended in failure, one way or another. Besides, Haruna had never even noticed his efforts. How could she possibly know how many times he had tried to confess? It was impossible…Rito also suspected that Momioka and Mio were trying to keep him away from Haruna for some reason. Was it possible they didn't like him? He didn't know either.
"Even if you're right, I've already tried several times, and I failed each and every one of them. Why do you think this time would be any different? I'm sure it'll end the same way as always, in failure" - Rito sighed.
"Well, that's true... but I still have a great idea" – said Saruyama.
"Which one?" – Rito asked curiously.
"If you can't confess your feelings directly to Sairenji-san... why don't you tell Akira?" – Saruyama said.
"What?" – Rito asked without understanding.
"Talk to Akira and tell him you have a crush on Sairenji-san. Ask what his intentions are with her, and let him know that you're trying to win her over. From what I've seen, Akira seems like a pretty understanding guy. If you explain things properly, maybe he'll back off" - Saruyama said.
Rito wanted to scold Saruyama for such a reckless idea, but he held himself back and reconsidered. Maybe the idea wasn't entirely unreasonable.Sure, he couldn't confess to Haruna directly, but he could talk to Akira. And it was true Akira did seem like a decent person. Maybe, if he explained his feelings, Akira would distance himself from Haruna… or maybe he didn't even have romantic intentions toward her in the first place, and all of Rito's worries were just baseless. Either way, it was worth a shot, he had nothing to lose.
"Okay, I'll try tomorrow" – Rito nodded.
"Perfect! And don't forget to tell me everything later" – Saruyama said.
Rito nodded.