CHAPTER 45: TRUTH OR DARE GONE WRONG... AGAIN

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Later in the day, the mansion felt strangely... still.

Not quiet. Just still. Like the kind of calm that settled in before a summer storm—or after too many people had run out of things to do.

Sora sat on the floor, slouched against the couch with her phone practically glued to her face, thumbs furiously tapping the screen. From the way she kept swearing under her breath, I could tell her Free Fire matches weren’t going well. At all.

Rin, having just finished doing the dishes from lunch, wiped her hands on a towel and joined her on the carpet, throwing her a sideways glance. "Maybe if you stopped rushing in like an idiot, you’d survive longer than two minutes."

Sora didn’t even blink. "Maybe if my squad covered me, I wouldn’t have to rush."

"You played solo."

"Exactly."

Akane came back from the gym about then, still glistening with post-workout sweat, a towel slung around her neck. She walked in like she owned the air itself, all lean muscle and smug confidence, took one look around at the scattered bodies and the general cloud of boredom hanging over us, and said, "Did somebody die, or is this the afterlife of laziness?"

"I’d prefer death," Sora muttered.

"No, thanks," Rin added. "We already died inside during lunch prep."

I was on the couch, pretending to read a book. Not even a good one. Just something to keep my eyes occupied so they didn’t wander nervously over to Elira, who sat across from me on the other end of the room—looking relaxed. Too relaxed.

She caught me glancing once and smirked. That didn’t help.

I was still reeling from the emotional minefield of this morning, the accidental kiss admission, and the thirty-minute interrogation that followed. The girls had promised—sworn—not to bring it up again.

Which meant it would definitely come up again.

Mei yawned and stretched dramatically. "Okay. I can’t take this. We’re all wasting daylight and potential serotonin." She clapped her hands. "Truth or Dare. Let’s go."

Immediately, warning bells went off in my brain.

"Nope," I said quickly, shaking my head. "Last time we played this, I got asked who I thought had the nicest legs, and I nearly got murdered."

"That was a warm-up," Sora said sweetly.

"I nearly died, Sora."

"Barely," Akane muttered.

Mei raised her hand like a politician taking an oath. "New rule. No one is allowed to ask questions about the bonding nights. No night-specific dares or truths. Agreed?"

Sora immediately groaned. "Boring."

"No," Mei said firmly. "It’ll be fun. Let’s test how well we know each other without prying into our scheduled activities." She shot me a wink.

The others mumbled in agreement. I was still hesitant, but I couldn’t exactly back out now without looking suspicious—or worse, guilty.

"Fine," I said, setting down the book. "But I reserve the right to skip any question that feels like it was written by a trap-setting AI."

"Nope," Mei said cheerfully. "If you join, you’re in all the way."

"Great."

We formed a loose circle—on the floor, with snacks dragged in from the kitchen and enough cushions to sink a ship. The sun had started to set outside, bathing the room in warm amber light that made everything feel more intimate than it had any right to.

Mei, of course, went first. She spun an empty soda bottle and it landed on Sora.

"Truth or Dare?"

Sora cracked her knuckles. "Dare."

"Okay," Mei grinned. "I dare you to—oh, this is perfect—text your last opponent in Free Fire and tell them you respect their skills and want to squad up next time."

Sora made a face like she’d just been asked to eat her own shoe. "You’re evil."

"And you accepted the dare. Go on."

Grumbling, Sora tapped her screen furiously, muttering curses the whole time.

Next spin landed on Rin. She chose truth.

Mei didn’t hesitate. "Who in this room do you think gossips the most when Ren’s not around?"

The silence was nuclear.

Rin, to her credit, didn’t blink. "Mei."

Mei gasped. "Me?!"

"You literally called a girl meeting the last time he sneezed in Elira’s direction."

"That was once."

"It was a long meeting," Akane added dryly.

Laughter broke out, the tension defused. For a moment, it felt like old times—chaotic, warm, silly.

Until the bottle landed on me.

"Truth or Dare?" Mei asked sweetly.

I hesitated. "Truth."

Elira’s gaze felt like a pressure point on the side of my face.

Mei tapped her lip thoughtfully. "Okay. If you could have dinner with any one of us privately, right now, who would you pick?"

I blinked. "Didn’t we agree—?"

"It’s not about the bonding night," she cut in smoothly. "Just hypothetical dinner."

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Glanced around. Saw the grins forming. Knew I was toast either way.

"...Rin."

Everyone gasped.

Even Rin sat up straighter. "Me?"

"Yeah," I said, scrambling. "You make the best tea. Dinner with good tea sounds... relaxing."

Another beat of silence.

Then Ayame leaned forward. "You suck at lying."

"I do not—"

"You hesitated, looked around, and picked the safest answer like you were trying to disarm a bomb," Akane said.

"Also," Sora added with a sly grin, "that’s not how you acted when you kissed Elira."

I froze.

The room went silent.

I didn’t even know Sora knew about that. I turned slowly to Mei, who looked far too pleased with herself.

"...Was that the goal?" I asked weakly.

"Maybe," Mei said with a chuckle, clearly pleased at the way she’d steered the entire conversation straight into a landmine.

But before anyone could pile on me further, there was a knock at the front door.

Everyone turned.

Mei raised a finger like a student about to give a presentation. "Oh! If you don’t mind... I invited a friend."

Friend?

Her tone was casual, but alarm bells immediately went off in my head. Friend? As in, a guy? In this house? While my girls were in pajamas and loose T-shirts, laughing and looking way too attractive under the sunset?

Before I could protest, Mei was already skipping to the door.

And then it swung open.

He was tall. Taller than me—which was already a strike. He wore ripped jeans, a black hoodie, and had one of those effortlessly smug expressions that screamed I don’t try, girls just like me. Worse, he had someone with him. A girl. Short pink hair, a denim jacket, cat-eye eyeliner, and a lollipop in her mouth like she’d stepped out of a music video.

"Hey, guys!" Mei beamed, pulling them both inside like this was normal. "This is Kaito, and that’s his friend Reina. They’re super fun and they’re joining us for Truth or Dare."

Sora blinked. "Since when?"

"Since now," Mei said cheerfully.

Kaito gave a little two-finger wave. "Yo."

Reina blew a bubble with her gum, popped it with a snap, and winked at no one in particular.

I was still processing what was happening when another knock hit the door. This one was faster, more impatient.

"Please tell me that’s a delivery," I muttered, standing up before Mei could get there.

But when I opened the door, my stomach dropped.

Two familiar faces grinned at me from the porch. Leo and Tobi. Friends from school. The ones who always showed up unannounced, usually hungry or looking to borrow a charger they’d never return.

"Ren!" Leo said, clapping me on the shoulder like I hadn’t ghosted them for weeks. "Dude, we were in the area and figured we’d stop by. You haven’t been to school in, like, forever."

"We were worried," Tobi added. "Are you dying? Are you in a cult? Either way, we’re staying for dinner."

"I—"

"We brought soda," Leo said, holding up a six-pack like it was a key to the kingdom.

I was about to make up an excuse—any excuse—when Rin peeked into the hallway behind me and said, "Ren? Who is it?"

They both looked past me into the living room.

At her.

Then their eyes widened as they took in the others.

Akane. Sora. Mei. Elira. Ayame. Even shy little Sora was sitting cross-legged in a loose hoodie, her smile a little too angelic. It was a harem. A very obvious, very unfair harem.

And now two of my classmates were standing at the threshold, staring into what might as well have been heaven’s waiting room.

"You lucky bastard," Leo whispered under his breath.

Before I could push the door closed, they’d already stepped in.

"Yo, what’s up, ladies?" Leo said, already playing it cool, trying to adjust his hoodie collar like that would make him taller.

"We were just about to play a party game," Mei said sweetly, shooting me a glance like this is what you get for not trusting me.

"So," she continued, motioning to the now way-too-large circle, "Truth or Dare, expanded edition."

I sank into the couch like the weight of the entire situation was pulling me under.

This was supposed to be our thing. My girls. My home. My completely insane but private harem chaos. And now it had mutated into a full-blown co-ed mixer with people I had to see in class.

Kaito and Reina settled in on the rug like they’d always belonged. Leo and Tobi grabbed cushions, elbowing each other like middle schoolers about to watch a rated-R movie.

The circle had doubled in size. The stakes had tripled. And every glance from one of the girls toward the new guys felt like a dagger to the chest.

"I hate this," I whispered.

Ayame leaned toward me, whispering back with a grin, "You’re the one who said yes to the game."

"I didn’t say yes to this game."

"Oh no," she teased. "This is the deluxe version."

Mei clapped her hands. "Alright! Since we’ve got new faces, let’s reset the bottle. New round. Everyone’s in."

Everyone—even Leo, who was clearly doing mental math to guess which of the girls were single. Spoiler: None of them were. But he didn’t know that.

I caught Akane’s eye across the circle. She was stone-faced, arms crossed, watching the guys like a cat watching intruders in her territory. Sora looked mildly annoyed. Elira was her usual unreadable self—smiling faintly, sipping tea like she was already calculating which dare would traumatize someone the most.

The bottle spun.

And landed on me.

"Truth or Dare, Ren?" Mei asked with a look that said she’d been waiting for this.

I exhaled slowly.

Ten people. Four of them outside the inner circle. Two of them interested in gossip. One of them (Kaito) already sitting too close to Rin.

I had to play this smart.

"...Truth," I said finally.

Mei leaned forward, eyes gleaming.

"Alright, Ren," she said slowly. "If you could magically remove any one person from this room for the next hour... who would it be?"

The group exploded.

Even Reina let out a, "Oooh."

Kaito raised an eyebrow.

Leo laughed. "Yo, that’s brutal."

I looked around the circle.

At Mei, grinning.

At Sora, smirking.

At Akane, arms crossed.

At Leo and Tobi, waiting for drama.

I could lie.

I could say "no one."

But that would be boring.

So I sighed and pointed.

"At Leo."

"What?!" he cried, scandalized.

"You showed up uninvited," I said flatly. "And you’re staring at my girlfriends like you want to get reincarnated as a bath towel."

The circle howled. Even Tobi was laughing.

Mei held up a hand to high-five me. "Respect."

Leo threw his hands up. "I didn’t know you were living like a light novel protagonist!"

"Now you do," Elira said calmly. "So be careful."

Leo gulped. "Got it."

The bottle spun again.

This game was only just getting started.

And I had a bad feeling it was going to get worse before it got better.

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