CHAPTER 41: THE TRIPLE D-A-T-E PLAN.

Kentaro, Tenka, Haruka, and Yumi made their way to the meeting room. There was tension in the air, but it was mainly Kentaro who was feeling all of it.

As they entered the room, the door slid open. Kentaro was the one in front, so naturally, he was the one who saw everything first and what he saw made his eyes widen slightly.

Shogo was sprawled dramatically on the floor like a dead NPC. Haruka and Yumi sat at the table. Kentaro glanced at Shogo with a disturbed look, as he stood awkwardly near the wall, still not sure if this was real.

The room was larger than expected for what you would call a ’Small ship,’ walls lined with faintly humming monitors, a central holographic display table, and what looked suspiciously like a mini fridge duct-taped shut.

"COMMANDER!" Shogo wailed. "EVEN IN A FLOATING WARSHIP, I AM DENIED A CHAIR?!"

"SHUT IT, SHOGO, OR I SWEAR I’LL BREAK YOUR NECK!" Tenka barked.

"OHHH, COMMANDER PLEASE, BREAK ME IN HALF!" Shogo cried out as he jumped up, but it wouldn’t last long.

BOOM.

A sideways kick, clean, sharp, and laced with fury, launched Shogo across the room and into the wall, where his body left a neat Shogo-shaped crater before he slumped down and dusted himself off.

"COMMANDER," he groaned, clutching his ribs, "I WILL NEVER GET USED TO YOUR ROCK-HARD KICKS... OHHHH..."

Kentaro blinked. "What the hell..." he muttered, a sense of déjà vu looming over him.Kentaro blinked. "What the hell..." he muttered, a sense of déjà vu looming over him.

But honestly, though it felt wrong and weird to say.

He’d seen worse.

Tenka cleared her throat. "Right. Let’s get to work."

She tapped the holotable, and a bright map of the island blinked to life, split into three zones with little blinking chibi avatars labelled: Serica, Kira, and Yura.

Tenka got up, looking over the table.

"Since our manpower’s limited, this is going to be tight. I’ll let Haruka take over and get you guys up to speed with our plan."

Haruka tapped the centre of the holotable, and a flicker of light burst upward. Another glowing 3D map of the island came to life, pulsing softly with activity. Three blinking dots marked the zones: beach, garden, cliffside.

She turned to Kentaro, crossing her arms with unsettling confidence.

"Okay, Kentaro," she said, a wicked smile on her lips. "Listen closely, because this plan is your only shot at surviving the day with your dignity, limbs, and reputation intact."

Kentaro tensed, knowing this was going to be something absurd.

Haruka pointed to the first zone on the map, a pulsing icon labelled Serica.

"You’re going on three dates, each with a different girl. Your first one will be with Serica at the beachside arcade. Then we can move you to Kira at the art museum and garden. Finally, your last date with the newbie Alberline, Yura, at the cliffside overlook once the sun starts to dip."

She flicked her finger to each zone in turn, each dot blinking to life like warning lights. It was like it was telling her and the rest of the team a message, a message that Haruka translated for them.

"Three girls, with two of them having world-ending powers, and one of them having enough power to cut you down without any problems. Three zones. One idiot who is hopelessly awkward around girls. What could go wrong?, I’m I right?"

"Hey!" Kentaro barked feeling like he had just been shot with words.

Haruka didn’t stop. "They’re all on opposite ends of the island. They cannot see each other. And more importantly, they cannot see you... in the wrong outfit."

She turned to Shogo, almost feeling reluctant, but she said it anyway. "Explain the stakes."

Shogo grinned darkly from the floor, as he shot straight up like a man who had finally got his golden opportunity "If Kira sees you in Serica’s sand-stained shirt, you’re dead. She’ll probably sense Serica’s hand on you. If Serica sees you dressed for Yura’s nighttime stroll, she’ll think you’re cheating. And she’ll probably smell Kira or Yura on you.. And if Yura sees you anywhere near arcade tokens? She’ll curse your bloodline. And honestly, I just think she’ll know you were hanging around other girls before her. How? Beats me."

Haruka nodded. "Exactly. That’s why we’re doing full outfit and colonge rotations between zones. Casual for Serica. Buttoned shirt for Kira Clean, light layers for Yura. Soft tones. You want to look emotionally available but not sweaty."

Kentaro’s head was already spinning. "How the hell am I supposed to do outfit changes between dates?"

Shogo raised his hand. "I’ve got that one." His face had an evil grin on it, making Kentaro question his life choices.

A large metallic suitcase slid into the room behind him with a thunk. It hissed and cracked open, steam puffing out from the sides like some cursed cosplay tech demon.

"Introducing..." he said proudly, "The Mobile Changing Pod™!"

"It’s literally a camping shower tent duct-taped to a hairdryer," Haruka muttered instantly.

"Don’t ruin the magic!"

Kentaro stared at the contraption like it might explode. "Is it safe? This is something that some pink-haired crazy princess would make, trying to convince her dad and her friends that she’s a good inventor"

"No," Shogo replied immediately. "But it’s fast. And speed is the name of the game when dealing with three beautiful yet deadly women. I’m I wrong?"

Haruka picked back up, ignoring Shogo’s question. "After each exit, we move you into the changing pod, switch outfits, and rush you to the next girl. Fast, clean, no trace."

Kentaro raised a brow. "And how exactly am I leaving each date without looking suspicious?"

Tenka slid a file across the table, also with an evil smirk on her face forming, which made Kentaro scared. "Fake emergencies."

Haruka smirked as she stared at the files. "We’ve planned unique but also effective distractions for each date. Tenka has roped Tengen into one of the distractions, so he will be helping with them."

"Serica gets a fake ice cream health scare," Haruka continued. "Kira gets a sudden ’urgent museum appointment’ call. Yura... we’re going with a cat in labour."

"...A what?"

"Just roll with it." she replied with a flat tone.

Shogo added, "You’ll have an earpiece. When I give the code phrase, you get out, fake an emergency, and let us pull you. You’ll say things like: ’Sorry, gotta run,’ or ’Emergency call. Be right back, anything that will work and not sound too sus."

Kentaro blinked. "You expect me to juggle three girls, lie to all of them, and somehow not die in the process?"

Haruka got up and walked over to Kentaro and proceeded to flick his forehead.

"Not lie, silly. You’ll only be delaying their dates. You’ll come back to each girl later. If we can’t do it like this, then this plan can’t be doable."

She tapped the glowing map again.

"You return to Serica near the arcade. You come back to Kira with a fake moustache and pretend you’re her second date. You rejoin Yura, holding a kitten like a sad, romantic prince. Or something like that, either way it’s all planned, and we can always improvise if anything goes wrong, okay?"

Kentaro sat down, rubbing his temples regretting all of his life choices. "You guys are insane."

"Insanely genius," Shogo chimed, grinning as he pointed at Kentaro. "This is basically love-based guerrilla warfare."

But Haruka’s expression shifted as she opened a separate file. Her tone turned colder as she looked at the files.

"Before we wrap, there’s one complication."

A faint flicker crossed the holotable. Serica’s name pulsed oddly. Glitched for a second.

"We’ve been picking up interference. Not random static, targeted jamming. Originating near Serica’s Corruption zone. It’s faint but it’s there."

Tenka got up and stepped beside her, arms folded. "Spire-code frequency. This isn’t our tech, it’s certainly not Cradle’s either. And it’s not just noise, it’s a tracking pattern."

Kentaro froze his mind and instantly went to one other group that could be behind this. "Wait. You’re saying..." He didn’t finish his sentence, hoping it wasn’t true and that he was just behind dumb

"We’re saying they could still be alive," Tenka said bluntly saying what Kentaro didn’t want to hear. "And they might be watching."

Haruka handed Shogo a separate receiver. "He’ll be monitoring for anything out of place. Any flicker, any echo, any shift in Serica’s behaviour, we isolate them and act. Fast."

Shogo stood up dramatically, tossing aside his chip bag. "I swear on my honour as an extremely hot background character in a Sci-Fi Harem novel that I will not let that bastard touch your girl."

Kentaro looked at all of them with worry.

Then looked at the map again. Serica. Kira. Yura.

And in his gut, he felt it, the same feeling as going into battle. Or worse... into a school play with no rehearsal.

"...This is gonna be a disaster."

Tenka clapped him on the back. "Welcome to Operation Triple Trouble. Try not to die, Romeo."