Chapter 14:

Epilogue

Why Get One Girlfriend if You Could Have ̶F̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶F̶o̶u̶r̶ ... Three?


The next day, Aito, the four girls, and Riku were once again gathered on the same rooftop as two weeks earlier, at approximately the same time of day that Aito first had asked them to gather at his behest. Aito and Riku had just finished filling the others in on the developments they didn't know about (aside from Mio, who did know but pretended she didn't), most notably the cancellation of the bet.


Before anyone else could say anything, Aito started his speech, too afraid someone would interrupt and throw things off the script he'd oh-so-carefully prepared the previous night after done with his business with Riku and Mio.

 

"Before we go into anything else, I have some things I want to say, if that's okay with everyone."


Taking a quick look around, no one showed any signs of agreement, but nobody spoke up, complained, or otherwise voiced their disagreement, so Aito went on. 


"First of all, I want to apologize. I realize now that I did something pretty rude when I first asked all of you out. I mean, I know now that all of you had your own reasons for going along with it, but that doesn't change that I did something kind of mean. I'm sure there are some people that could date five other people at once without any problems for anyone involved, but the me from back then was not one of them."


At this point, however, Sana chose to chime in. 


"Are we getting dumped?"


The first time Aito two weeks earlier had been taken off guard when challenged, but having learned from that experience, he knew exactly how to respond this time. 


"No. You're not being dumped."


"Yay!"


"Anyway, moving on. I'm not perfect and did a lot of things wrong, but honestly all of you also have some things to work on. So, let's keep going out, all five of us, and work on those things together. That is what I'd like to propose."


"But what if we don't want to? Especially now that the whole bet thing kind of is a moot point anyway?"


"Then you're free to say so and go your own way, and I won't have any complaints… even if I of course would be happier if it didn't come to that. Does anyone here want to stop dating me now that the situation is slightly different from what you originally may have envisioned?"


"I promised you another date, and I'll give you one. I see no reason for any of that to change. As long as I get to keep making fun of you, I'm fine with continuing to date."


"I still don't have any friends, I'm still great at math, and I don't know if I actually promised you one more date or not, but either way I wouldn't mind the company."

"We literally live in the same house, so it's not like you'd get away from me either way."

"We're still best bros no matter what, so I wouldn't mind trying a bit more than that too!"


"I'd just seem petty if I said no after all those nice words from everyone else, so I guess that's my answer. I don't really care, but whatever, I'm in too."


With everyone else having spoken up, Aito saw fit to tie a knot on the whole thing and bring it all to an end for now. 


"So, if no one else has anything to add, I'd now like to suggest that we-"


"Wait, I have more to say."


"Mio? What would you like to add, then?"


"Just to be clear, you're not the one I want to say stuff too."


"Well, I guess I'll just awkwardly stand here until you're done then."


"Yeah, do that. But for a few of the rest of you: Sana, Aito is nice but I think it's unfair that only one of us has five partners while the rest of us just get one each, and I'm not sure how good it is that you're literally dating your own brother and not even trying to out with anyone else too. So, you don't have to give up on him for now, but that's why I think the two of us should also date. Congratulations, you're my girlfriend now. And Morishita-"


"Please call me Yuki, if you'd be okay with that."


"- and Yuki, the whole thing about having no friends is just sad, so you're also my girlfriend now. Ikazaki, you're cute but I don't get the impression you like girls so congratulations on not being my girlfriend. And Riku, sad to say but I'm not like Sana so I'm not dating you."


"Mio, I wouldn't date you even if we weren't related."


"The feeling's mutual, so good to know."


"Mio, I didn't mean that to be mean, it's just that you're a girl, and that's not good enough for me."


"Sure, anyway, that's all. Aito, you can stop standing there like an idiot and say whatever it was you wanted to now. "


"Well, first of all, that was pretty bold."


"I know, right? Figured you can't just hog all of the crazy stuff to yourself."


"Sorry for interrupting, but Mio? You do realise I haven't answered yes yet, right?"


"Well, if that's your only problem, Sana… you're going to say yes anyway, so why wait?"


"How did you know that!?"


"I have my methods."


"If you're actually done interrupting me this time, I, who go by the name of Aito and now am boyfriend of all five of you, would like to actually make my suggestion. Why don't we go hang out somewhere, all five of us? I was thinking that could be nice, all of us doing something even if just this once, instead of just me meeting you all one or two at a time."


This suggestion would be met with something that, if it wasn't quite a thunderous roar of approval, at least eventually resulted in the six doing exactly what Aito suggested, albeit only after a lot more interruptions and arguing back and forth.


As for Mio's sudden infection of craziness, Aito would later learn that it was "all part of the act" and that Mio herself would spend the rest of the day in shock at just how bold she'd been and more surprised than anyone at how what she tried somehow actually worked. 


And while not every facet of who all of the people he would now continue dating was clear to Aito yet, there would be plenty of future opportunities to learn more now that they'd agreed to continue dating, which if anything at least seemed a good start. Especially considering how they'd not just all agreed to date him, but how all five had agreed to date him at the same time, for a very fulfilling if somewhat messy relationship (now with some additional complications).

muishiki
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Koyomi
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