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Chapter 11 : Shameless!​

I had the very distinct impression of being under an intervention of sorts when the girls and I finally sat ourselves at a table big enough for all of us at lunch later that day.

Somehow, Kyoka had managed to share her 'suspicions' when I wasn't looking with Mina, who, considering her rather, let's say, energetic personality, apparently took it upon herself to also tell Tsuyu and Toru that 'something, like, weird is going on with Hebi-chan!', and the both of them had agreed, despite having no previous frame of reference for my general behavior besides the few hours we spent with each other the day before.

Ochako, apparently haven't been included in the confidence, was alternatively looking between the five of us in confusion, and Momo, bless her oblivious little heart -explaining to her the true reason why my blouse was pink had been an exercise in frustration, both because she wasn't getting the point and because I wanted to hug her confusion away during the whole thing but had to restrain myself, the girl can just be that precious-, was looking a bit uncomfortable due to the tension among the table.

After a double period of Modern Literature with Cementos -Ishiyama Ken- where I actually had to pay attention since I couldn't cruise over the subject because of a mix of advantages and past knowledges, and another excruciatingly slow hour of Math with Ectoplasm -who, to absolutely no one's surprise, spent his time regularly bothering me, again- I wasn't exactly in the mood to undergo an inquisition.

I drop my chopsticks next to my bento box, alternatively look between 'Curious, curiouss, curioux and curiouser', and plainly state the truth.

"Yes, I got laid yesterday," cue a mix of gasping and outraged sputters at my blunt announcement, as well as a nice gradient of blushes across the whole table, "and that's why I'm -was actually, since 'Gasper the fantom' managed to sour my mood by constantly picking on me- positively glowing, now, are you, like, going to let me eat my lunch, ne?"

I pointedly look at each of the girls, one of my eyebrows arched in askance.

While Tsuyu, apparently the least shocked by my crassness, is content to slowly blink at me, Mina and Toru's mouths are both wide open, Kyoka looks like she just got slapped, Ochako finally managed to achieve her evolution into a steaming tea-kettle, and Momo is actually doing her best attempt at following in her footsteps.

"W-What?" the dark-purple haired girl sputters once more, before glaring at me, "Like hell ya will! Explain!"

I roll my eyes, before sighing.

"Ara, it's complicated?" I start with a one shoulder shrug, "Toko-tan and I were, like, sorta girlfriends last year. But something happened and we had to put an end to our relationship against our own wishes. Until yesterday, we never got proper closure about it, and I was, like, so happy to see her again when I had thought that our time together had come to an end with the coming of the holidays, ne?"

"So we spent our afternoon together, one thing led to another, and we ended up in each other's arms in a love-hotel and said to each other 'goodbye' on our own terms, ne?"

The silence that falls on the table is almost deafening, and most certainly awkward, so I end up picking back my chopsticks to start digging at my bento.

"En… You, like, so don't seem to take it badly, though?" Mina remarks half pointedly and half awkwardly.

"Ara, it's more of a 'glass half full' kind of thing, ne?" I answer, my tone turning a bit wistful, "Like I said, we were forced to 'break up' two weeks before UA's entrance exam, only able to exchange longing glances at school, so, like, I'm deliberately choosing to look at the bright side here, even if it's a bit sad, ne?"

Silence falls once more, and I finally can take a proper bite, letting out a little moan of happiness.

Nothing better than good food to wash away the bitter taste of being a teacher's designated target.

"So when ya invited me to the movie, ya were…" Kyoka trails a little awkwardly, before blushing massively.

I giggle.

"Ara, no, I'm, like, so not a double-timer, Kyo-Kyo-chan," I 'chastise' her, "Toko-tan and I weren't really, like, together-together, ne? Attracted to each other, yes, but romantically involved, not really, ne? Honestly, we were more upset to be told what to do by stuffy adults than anything else, so, like, when I invited you, I was tots available, ne?"

Her cheeks darken another notch as a few of the girls pointedly look at her.

"No, Kyo-Kyo-chan," I carry on while shaking my head 'sadly', "I'd only date multiple girls at once if they were, like, aware of each other and actually liked each other too, ne?"

Second deafening silence in as many minutes, I'm getting good at those.

"...Ano, what!?" Toru, hidden cutie that she is, not-quite shriek at my answer.

I giggle once more, prompting a no small amount of glares from all around the table.

"Ara~ Ara~, what do you have trouble understanding, Ru-tan?" I 'blink' innocently at her, the rare 'confused onee-sama look' number 1 making its first appearance, "I'd love, like, so much to have many cuties with me, all of us loving each other, it's tots kind of my dream, ne?"

I watch amusingly as the green-and-gold eyed girl slowly mouths out 'Ru-tan' silently before going an absolutely magnificent shade of red and covering her face with both of her hands.

It's kind of sad that I'm the only one able to enjoy the show at the moment because it'd be worth selling tickets.

"...Ya just gonna admit it like that, without second guessing yaself?" Kyoka asks after a beat, wide eyed.

I ponder her question, a finger on my chin, before shrugging.

"Ara, it's not like there's a good and proper way to say it anyway, ne?" I hum in consideration, wondering how to explain my point of view, before giving my audience another one shoulder shrug and gesturing around, "Japanese society is stuffy, ne? Polyamory isn't looked that kindly upon, so, what do you want me to do, ne?"

I frown a little, poking at my food listlessly for a beat.

"I don't like being alone." I admit bluntly, because that's what my [Communication Talent] tells me is the better way to explain it : by being blatantly honest, "I want to have people living, loving, laughing with me, because otherwise I'd get the impression I'd die a little inside each day."

Because always being alone was before, and I don't want to remember that one bit.

I perk up with a beaming smile.

"Ara, so, what better way than to have a big family, ne?" I continue, cupping my cheeks with both hands, my chopsticks dangling between my right-hand fingers, "Lots of loving wifeys to wake up side by side each morning, to share both pains and joys with, and live our lives at the fullest together, doesn't that sounds, like, tots the best, ne?"

Under the bemused look of my audience, I tilt my head in consideration, before nodding to myself once more.

"Ara, and of course, lots of steamy-steamy sex, ne?" I conclude sagely with a self-satisfied nod.

Feeling rather proud of myself at the second round of sputters I just unleashed, I take another bite of my fried rice.

"At least, you're honest about it, kero." Tsuyu ends up pointing once everyone calms down and their blush recedes a notch.

"Ara, what would be the point to eventually spring that up on a girlfriend, ne?" I ask confusedly, this time not playing it up at all, "That would be, like, so insensitive, ne?"

"En, but what about, like, UA, heroes and stuff?" Mina suddenly asks.

I blink at her, while simultaneously going back over the whole conversation.

Ah, I understand.

"Ara, that's, like, killing two birds with one stone, ne?" I smirk a little, before gesturing with my chopsticks, "I don't like the current status quo, the whole Heroes vs Villain is a powder keg ready to explode, so, I want to be at the forefront to do something about it, ne?"

"But, at the same time, if I end up, like, super-popular and famous, people will give me some slack if I spend each night with multiple cuties in my bed, ne?" I end up with a little wink directed at the pink-skinned girl, making her blush worsen again, "The public will be all like 'yeah, but it's her, so I guess it's understandable', and I'd have my cake and eat it too, ne?"

"And as long as we all like each other, like, very much, what's the matter then, ne?" I give the whole table another genuinely beaming smile, "I'm gonna try my best at this 'saving the world' thing, but I'm also, like, going to live my best life doing it, ne?"

Once more, silence falls on the table for a while, until Kyoka decides to put on a show by dropping her head against the table with a muffled 'thud'.

"I can't believe it." the dark-purple girl mutters under her breath, but apparently loudly enough for everyone to hear it.

"Jiro-san, what is the actual matter?" Momo ends up asking since everyone is too busy looking at the local tomboy to actually ask.

Kyoka woodenly raises her head, before looking me straight in the eyes, prompting me to blink at her in askance through my sunglasses.

"I can't believe how shameless ya are, saying things like that." she drawls, still a bit red-faced from the previous topic.

I tilt my head.

"Ara, but shame is for humans, ne?" I wink at her, a finger on my smiling lips, "And I'm, like, a robot-girl, ne? So I so don't feel concerned, ne?"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Ara, it so does!"

"No, I tell ya, it doesn't work like that!"

"Then I'd make my own rules, ne?"

"Argh! Ya!"

"Ano, maybe we should stop them?" Toru asks aloud as Kyoka and I continue to bicker about 'shamelessness and what makes us human', after a fashion and if you squint hard enough while looking sideways.

"En, what if we, like, didn't do that." Mina hazards, clearly choosing the better part of valor here.

"I wouldn't want to interpose myself into a lover's quarrel anyway." Momo calmly says, somehow managing to find the sole lull into Kyoka and I's 'ten years old'-type argument to drop her -endearingly innacurate but positively hilarious- bomb.

Both of our heads snap into Momo's direction, before we both trade a look at each other.

I smirk, Kyoka reddens even further.

She tries to speak but I cut her off.

"Ara~ Ara~ you should have said something sooner, Kyo-Kyo-chan, I'd have promised you a date this week-end if you did, ne?" I 'shyly' say while wiggling a little in my seat in 'obvious discomfort'.

The dark-purple haired sputters, her jacks going wild.

"Y-Ya…" she gears up, before visibly deflating and whispering under her breath something about a 'shameless player, thinking she's so smart'.

I giggle.

"Ara, I'm joking, ne?" I end up saying while raising my hands in surrender, "I'm usually busy with Eri-chan the week-ends after all, and we have better things to do right now than going out, ne?"

Almost everyone around the table gives themselves whiplash at my declaration.

"What do you mean, Ban-san?" Ochako asks, apparently deciding that now is a good time to speak since the conversation appears to be going away from the subject of my future harem-but-not and Kyoka's hypothetical participation in it.

I drop my chopsticks, before looking at the girls one-by-one.

"Ara, first, we have to make an appropriate training schedule for each of you, of course, ne?"

Cue a not small amount of groans of dejection around the table, Momo and Kyoka being the only ones not immediately complaining, prompting me to sweatdrop a little and Kyoka to wryly smile at me, silently mouthing an 'I told you so'.

I really have my work cut out for me with those girls, have I?

[AN : Well, that happened I guess.

So, I kinda pigeonholed myself to have this discussion way earlier than I'd thought, because of it organically sprung on my characters despite my best attempt not to.

If Hebi-chan talks about her dalliance with Motoko, then we'd have to explain the situation a little, then why they broke up, then how Hebi-chan sees relationships, and her dropping the polyamory/harem bomb since, yes, she is actually that shameless.

I'm not going to lie, writing this chapter was a struggle, but I don't think there's a good way to talk about the subject and this is, roughly, my best attempt.

At least now it's done and I can play with it a little in future discussion.

Hope you enjoy, xoxo.]