Chapter 166: Little by Little, Slowly (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 166: Little by Little, Slowly (1)
The sound of the TV drifting in from the living room, the sound of cooking from the kitchen. When I opened my eyes to those nostalgic sounds, I found myself back in my old home on the homeworld.
I saw the familiar ceiling and my room, where I knew exactly where everything was at a single glance. I realized immediately that this was a dream.
My body moved automatically, independent of my will. It was a familiar house, but my body felt utterly out of place in this scenery. Unlike the house I remembered from my childhood, my perspective was higher; everything looked small and low.
It was only when I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror that I realized I wasn't dreaming as my younger self, but as I am now.
Drawn by the noise in the living room, I opened the door and stepped out. My father was sitting on the sofa watching TV, and my mother was in the kitchen cooking.
What time was it? I couldn't see the outside scenery clearly, but judging by the brightness, it seemed to be around lunchtime.
I sat down at the dining table without a word. Sitting in the seat next to me was a young Seira.
"Oversleeping again just because it's the weekend?"
She spoke with the exact same narrowing of the eyes and tone of voice she had used when we were kids.
"It's the weekend. Nothing wrong with sleeping in a bit," I replied, as if it were perfectly natural for a young Seira to be in our house.
Since Seira's parents had both worked since she was little, it was a common occurrence for her to eat meals at our place on the weekends.
"If you sleep too much, you won't have time to play!"
"We can just play tomorrow."
"Are you going to get up early tomorrow, then?"
"Who knows?"
"Mister! A says he's going to wake up late tomorrow, too!"
Seira looked at me with a pout before turning to my father. I followed her gaze to him.
My father continued to watch TV in silence. Even my mother, who usually had plenty to say about mine and Seira's noisy bickering, remained quiet.
"Dad."
The moment I softly called out to him, my eyes snapped open.
I couldn't tell exactly what time it was, but I could instinctively feel that the sun was high in the sky. As I tried to sit up, I felt a weight pressing down on me.
Yura was clinging to me on my right, and Eunha was doing the same on my left. Perhaps they had felt cold in the early morning hours after our heated lovemaking ended, as both were wrapped in blankets. I carefully laid them back down and stood up.
Yubin was lying with her head on my legs as a pillow. I settled her down properly as well before getting up.
"Move."
Su-ah, who was sitting on the sofa where we had shared intense sex last night, spoke to me in a dry voice. She was wearing nothing but a blanket wrapped around her, and I realized she was playing a game with a gamepad in her hands.
"When did you wake up?"
"A while ago."
First, I put on my underwear that was scattered on the floor, wrapped another remaining blanket around myself, and looked around the house.
The bedding spread out in the living room was left as it was, since some people were still sleeping.
Traces of last night's passion remained on the blankets. I let out a bashful chuckle, thinking about how hard we had gone at it, then looked toward the kitchen, drawn by a mouth-watering aroma.
"Honey, did you sleep well?"
Hayoung, who was busy with something in the kitchen, greeted me. I gave a simple "Yeah" and walked over to her.
A pot and a rice cooker were bubbling away as she prepared a meal. I stepped up behind her and gave her a light hug as she washed the utensils she'd used for cooking.
"You must have woken up early."
"Yeah. I got up first and did some quick grocery shopping."
Unlike the clothes she wore yesterday, Hayoung was wearing an oversized gray knit sweater.
"Whose clothes are those?"
"Yellow's. She gave it to me to wear so I'd be comfortable."
Realizing the owner was Su-ah, I looked over at her playing games on the sofa, but Su-ah kept her eyes fixed on the TV and didn't even glance toward the kitchen.
"Did you wash up?"
"I washed up as soon as I woke up. You should go wash up too, honey."
"Alright."
I gave her a light kiss and headed toward Su-ah before going to wash.
"Are you winning?"
"As if I'd lose."
I hugged her from behind while she continued her game, pressing my cheek against hers. Su-ah, who wasn't much for physical affection despite being fine with sex, didn't react much. When I kissed her cheek, she finally turned her head toward me.
Our lips met in a kiss, and we pulled apart after a brief moment.
"My underwear is in the room, right?"
"Yeah. Find it yourself."
I dropped the blanket I was wearing onto the living room floor, went into the master bedroom, and opened the drawer under Su-ah's bed.
Since I often stayed over and had intense sex at my girlfriends' houses, I kept spare underwear and clothes at their places. I took out a pair of underwear and some comfortable training clothes and headed to the bathroom.
Hot water soaked my body, washing away the fatigue from spending all of yesterday entangled with everyone. Just as I finished lathering my hair and was rinsing off the shampoo suds, the bathroom door opened.
"Oppa, did you sleep well?"
"Yeah. How about you, Yubin?"
"I slept well too."
I exchanged a brief greeting with Yubin as she entered the bathroom. She stepped into the shower booth with me, and we shared a kiss. Normally, we would have naturally progressed into another round of feel-good sex, but perhaps because we had pushed ourselves so hard yesterday, neither Yubin nor I felt a particularly strong urge to do it right then.
"What about Yura and Eunha?"
"Green is awake. She'll be here soon."
As if on cue, the bathroom door opened again. Eunha walked in and smiled at me.
"Good morning, Oppa."
With that greeting, Eunha also stepped into the shower. I kissed her as well. It was a bit cramped with three people in a shower booth designed for one, but it wasn't so tight that we couldn't wash.
"I told her I'd wash first because it would be too small."
"Then only Red would get to wash with Oppa."
Yubin grumbled about missing the chance to wash alone with me, but she didn't seem to have any intention of kicking Eunha out as she quietly soaked herself in the water.
"We can just take turns washing each other."
And so, while one person stood outside the shower booth scrubbing their body with a lathered towel, I helped wash another person's hair inside the booth.
Washing in turns meant the shower took quite a while, but we all got clean. While the two of them were drying their hair, I got dressed first and walked over to Yura, who was still sleeping.
"Yura. Are you awake?"
"...Mmm."
She answered in a groggy voice. When I stroked her hair, she leaned into my hand as if clinging to it, then slowly opened her eyes.
"Is it morning?"
"No, it's afternoon."
It was already past noon. Because we had all been entangled until dawn before falling asleep, everyone except Hayoung and Su-ah had overslept.
"Everyone else is finished washing. You're the only one left, Yura."
"I don't want to wash. Wash me."
"No."
"Ugh... You're mean."
Yura groaned as she sat up, and the blanket covering her slid down. Even indoors, the weather had become cold enough that it was difficult to walk around naked.
Even with the heating on, Su-ah's house was so large and spacious that the warmth didn't reach every corner. I draped the blanket back over Yura and helped her up. Once on her feet, she immediately pressed herself against me.
As she clung to me, I felt the pressure of her large breasts, and at the same time, I felt Su-ah's gaze from the sofa where she was gaming.
"Let's wash together. Wash one more time."
I looked at Yura, who refused to let go, and kissed her on the forehead. She looked up at me and beamed, pouting her lips for a kiss, but I blocked them with my finger.
"If you go wash up quickly, I'll give you a proper kiss."
"Okay!"
Answering with a voice that had instantly regained its energy, Yura cast aside the blanket, grabbed her underwear she'd discarded to the side yesterday, and headed for the bathroom where Eunha and Yubin were still drying their hair.
Looking at the pile of blankets on the floor, I thought that cleaning them up would be quite a chore. I picked them up one by one and headed to the laundry room. Since it was too much to wash all at once, I started the washing machine and was moving the rest when I heard a shout of "Hey!!!" from the bathroom.
I was certain Yura had played some kind of prank on Yubin. I finished clearing away the blankets.
Perhaps because we had spent the whole time having sex on the spread-out bedding, there were no stains on the floor. After confirming there wasn't much else to tidy up, I glanced at the TV where Su-ah was gaming and then went to the kitchen.
Hayoung seemed to have finished the preparations, as she was moving the pot of food to the dining table. I silently helped her.
"Honey, I can do it myself."
"It's faster if we do it together."
I caught Hayoung's eye as we moved the pots and bowls. I replied to her protest by leaning down slightly and offering my lips. Hayoung kissed me immediately and, with a smile on her face, finished setting the table.
"Su-ah, let's eat."
"Yellow."
Once the table was fully set, I called out to Su-ah, who was still immersed in her game. Hayoung joined me in calling her, and Su-ah finally paused the game, put down the pad, and headed to the dressing room to put on some clothes.
"Is it already done?"
Eunha, fresh from the shower, asked in admiration as she saw the table. Seeing Hayoung and me waiting, she took a seat.
Yubin, whose hair was longer than Eunha's, followed shortly after.
"Pink sprayed water on me, so I had to dry it again."
As expected, Yura had indeed played a prank after entering the bathroom late. I chuckled at the sight of the annoyed Yubin sitting down. When our eyes met, Yubin's face flushed red, and she cleared her throat as if realizing she was being unnecessarily grumpy.
"Is it kimchi stew?"
"Yeah."
Drawn by the appetizing scent, Yubin also showed interest in the lidded pot. Yura hadn't arrived yet, but we couldn't wait forever, so Hayoung opened the lid.
Freshly cooked rice, kimchi stew, and several side dishes. It was a full spread, more than enough for the six of us.
"Pink said she'd just wash up quickly, so she'll be here soon."
Just as we were dishing out the rice and getting ready to eat, Yura came running out, having washed quickly, and approached me wearing only her underwear.
"A. I'm done washing, so give me that kiss now."
Her long pink hair was wrapped in a towel, and because she was so focused on the kiss, she hadn't dried herself properly; droplets of water clung to the ends of the strands peeking out.
"Alright."
Just as I had kissed everyone else, I gave Yura a light kiss on the lips. She beamed brightly and asked Su-ah, who had just come out of the dressing room after putting on clothes, "Do you have any clothes for me?"
Su-ah let out a sigh of annoyance and led Yura to the dressing room. A moment later, Yura emerged wearing a large T-shirt, and with her and Su-ah finally at the table, we had our first meal all together.
We didn't have any particularly special conversations during the meal. We talked about how the sex was yesterday, how we used to do it before, and so on. Perhaps because it was the day after a long session of lovemaking, the atmosphere felt more like pillow talk, even though we were at the dining table.
One might think it strange to talk so openly about sex while eating, but for these women, who had already had sex with me countless times, the setting didn't pose any problem for the conversation.
Of course, the talk of sex didn't last forever. Afterward, we moved on to ordinary topics like what we'd seen on TV or recent news. However, seeing my girlfriends gathered like this and sharing everyday conversation for the first time, I realized that their ratio of talking to eating was overwhelmingly high.
Everyone is quite the chatterbox.
I was fairly used to seeing groups of women talk a lot. The reason I thought they were "quite the chatterbox" was simply because my girlfriends looked just like any other group of girls you'd see anywhere.
I wondered if the atmosphere was only this good because it was the day after we'd all had sex together. After all, opinions on my harem were still divided, and even those who agreed hadn't really had a proper conversation together yet, so I had expected some complicated discussions to arise.
But it was just a needless worry. Although their relationships were all intertwined through me, that didn't seem to be causing any immediate problems between them.
Problems could certainly arise in the future, but perhaps because it was the day after sex, no one brought up the harem issue.
Maybe their relationships had soured because of the issues involving me. But what was certain was that, whether intentional or not, they weren't bringing up the harem right now.
Watching this peaceful meal where nothing went wrong, I felt that living this kind of daily life wouldn't be so bad. Of course, there was still much to be done before this atmosphere could truly become our "everyday."
After finishing the meal, we all cleaned up together and gathered at the table once more. With a drink placed in front of each of us, a silence fell over the room, unlike during the meal.
They were waiting for me to speak. I cleared my throat once and opened my mouth.
"I'd like to talk about the future."
I had talked a lot about the future when I reunited with them a few days ago and met them individually. But on the first day we all gathered, on the days I met them one-on-one, and even yesterday...
We had talked about our relationships, but we hadn't talked about the relationship between Spacetro and Team Hunter Killer. We had touched on it briefly the day we reunited, but that was strictly about the past, not the future.
It wasn't that I had intentionally avoided it. It was just that my head was so full of the complications of my relationships with my girlfriends that I hadn't been able to think about it.
My girlfriends, sensing what I meant by "the future," listened to my words with calm expressions and nodded.
It would be a complicated story, but if we untangled the threads little by little, slowly, there would surely be a solution. More than anything, I wasn't alone anymore; I had five girlfriends by my side.