The quiet sanctity of the bedroom didn't last long. It never did in the Yuuki household.
Rito and Mikan were still wrapped in each other's arms, the morning sun warming their bare shoulders, when the sound of heavy, enthusiastic footsteps thundered up the stairs.
"Rito! Mikan-chan! Are you awake?"
Lala's cheerful voice boomed from the other side of the bedroom door, shattering the romantic atmosphere instantly.
Rito froze, his eyes widening in panic. "Lala?!"
"We're going to be late for school! We waited downstairs, but breakfast wasn't ready, so we figured you two might be having a special morning meeting!"
Click.
The door didn't just open; it was slid open with the force of a small hurricane.
"Morning~!"
Lala bounded into the room, fully dressed in her Sainan High school uniform, her tail wagging behind her like a metronome set to a manic tempo. Behind her, Run Elsie Jewelria floated in, checking her reflection in a compact mirror, her idol aura radiating even at 7:00 AM. And bringing up the rear was Sairenji Haruna, holding her school bag with both hands, looking slightly apologetic for the intrusion.
"Lala-chan, we shouldn't just barge in," Haruna chided softly, though she smiled. "Rito-kun might be changing, or—"
Haruna's voice died in her throat.
The three girls froze in the doorway.
The scene before them was undeniable. It was a tableau of absolute intimacy. Rito and Mikan were in bed. The sheets were tangled around their waists, but it was obvious they were naked underneath. Rito's arm was wrapped protectively around Mikan's bare shoulders, and Mikan was pressed flush against his chest, her face flushed but defiant.
But what drew their eyes wasn't the nudity. It was the light.
Glowing brightly on Mikan's exposed stomach, pulsing in a synchronized rhythm with the invisible seals on the other three girls, was the Fourth Golden Heart Seal.
Rito flinched, his face detonating into an atomic shade of red. He instinctively pulled the sheet higher to cover Mikan's bare chest, but he didn't pull away from her. He couldn't. He knew this moment was inevitable, though there timing put him in a bit of a dilemma, he had to face it eventually.
"W-Wait!" Rito yelped, his voice cracking. "I-I can explain! Well... actually..."
He looked at Lala, bracing for a scream or a question.
But Lala didn't scream. Her green eyes lit up like fireworks.
"YAAAAAY!" Lala cheered, throwing her hands in the air.
She didn't look shocked. She looked vindicated. She launched herself from the doorway, jumping onto the foot of the bed and bouncing the mattress, sending Rito and Mikan tumbling closer together.
"Finally! You finally did it!" Lala squealed, crawling up the bed to beam at the glowing mark on Mikan's stomach. "I knew it! I knew you two were getting closer! Run-chan and I were betting on when it would happen!"
Rito blinked, his brain stalling. "Wait... you were betting?"
"Of course!" Lala giggled, her tail wrapping happily around Rito's ankle. "Mikan-chan has been looking at you with those lovey-dovey eyes for weeks! And I had told you, Rito, in Deviluke culture, siblings marrying is rare but totally okay if the love is strong enough! I also wanted Mikan to be part of the harem! Now the family is complete!"
Run leaned over Lala's shoulder, a smug, satisfied grin on her face.
"See? I told you," Run teased, winking at Rito. "Lala and I talked about it. We knew Mikan-chan felt left out. We were actually worried you were going to be too chicken to make the final move, Rito-kun. But look at you..."
Run poked Rito's burning cheek.
"You really didn't hold back, did you? Naked in bed... morning cuddles... you really are a beast, Manager-san~."
Rito groaned, burying his burning face in his free hand, though he couldn't stop the heat from spreading to his ears. "Run, please... I'm glad you guys are okay with it, but I'm dying of embarrassment here."
"I'm not embarrassed," Mikan said softly. She squeezed Rito's hand under the covers, looking at Lala and Run with a grateful smile. "Thank you... for accepting me."
"You're family! You were always family!" Lala beamed.
However, amidst the alien celebration, there was one person who hadn't moved.
Sairenji Haruna.
The class representative, the girl with the strongest Earthling common sense, stood by the door. She looked pale. Her hands were gripping the handle of her school bag so tightly her knuckles were white.
She wasn't looking at the seal with joy. She was staring at Rito and Mikan with wide, shock-filled eyes.
"Rito-kun..." Haruna whispered. Her voice trembled, cutting through Lala's cheering like a knife. "Mikan-chan is... she's your little sister."
The room went quiet. Lala stopped bouncing. Run's teasing smile faltered.
This was the hurdle Rito had feared. Lala and Run were aliens; their morality was flexible. They wanted the harem to grow. But Haruna was from their world. She was normal. She represented the society Rito was defying.
Rito took a deep breath. He felt the sweat trickle down his back. The shame tried to make him cower; to make him apologize and say it was a mistake.
But then he felt Mikan tremble against him. She shrank back slightly, prepared to be judged by the girl she respected so much.
Rito couldn't let Mikan take the fall. He couldn't let Haruna look at Mikan with disgust.
"I know." Rito said.
He stopped hiding behind his hands. He sat up straighter, keeping the sheet securely over his and Mikan's waists, and looked Haruna directly in the eye. His face was still flushed, his ears burning with shame, but his gaze was unwavering. He didn't back down.
"I know it's wrong by Earth's standards," Rito said, his voice steady despite the shaking of his hands. "I know people would look at us like we're crazy. I know... I know I'm a pervert for doing this with my own sister."
He looked down at Mikan, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead with a tenderness that made Haruna flinch.
"But... I couldn't leave her behind," Rito said softly. "I didn't want a future where everyone is happy except Mikan. I didn't want her to just be the 'sister' who watches from the sidelines while I build a life with everyone else. I love her, Haruna. Not just as a brother anymore."
Rito looked back at Haruna, his eyes pleading for understanding but refusing to apologize for the act itself.
"I want her to be happy. And she said... she said she's happy with me. So, I'm going to protect that. Even if it makes me the worst guy in the world."
Haruna looked at Rito's earnest, burning face. She saw the honesty radiating off him, the same raw, unfiltered honesty that had made her fall in love with him. He wasn't making excuses. He was accepting the sin because the love was worth it.
Then, she looked at Mikan.
She saw the Seal, the undeniable proof of a bond that Haruna herself possessed. She felt the resonance of the magic, a hum of connection that linked all four of them in the room.
Most importantly, she saw Mikan's face.
Mikan wasn't looking at the floor in shame. She wasn't looking at Rito with fear. She was looking at him with a look of pure, unadulterated adoration. It was the look of a girl who had finally found her place.
Haruna let out a long, shaky breath. Her shoulders slumped. The tension drained out of her frame.
"You really are... unfair, Rito-kun," Haruna said, a small, resigned smile touching her lips. A deep blush crept up her cheeks as the reality of the situation, and the sight of Rito's bare chest, hit her. "Normally... this would be impossible. I should be scolding you. I should be calling the morality committee. I should be running away."
She walked over to the side of the bed. Mikan flinched slightly, but Haruna didn't scold her.
Instead, Haruna reached out, gently touching Mikan's hand which rested on the blanket.
"But..." Haruna's eyes softened, looking from Mikan to Lala and Run, seeing the acceptance on their faces. "Lala-chan and Run-chan seem so happy about it. And... I've seen how lonely Mikan-chan looked sometimes. If... if this is what makes the family complete..."
Haruna closed her eyes and smiled, a bright, dazzling smile that lit up the room.
"Then I accept it! We're all in this together, right? We all have the Seal."
Mikan's eyes widened, tears pricking the corners again. "Haruna-san..."
"Besides," Haruna added, her face turning a darker shade of red as she glanced at the Seal on Mikan's stomach. "It proves that Rito-kun has enough love for all of us. Even if it's... a little bit scandalous."
"Yay! Group hug!" Lala shouted, diving into the pile.
Run joined in with a giggle, and Haruna, laughing, sat on the edge of the bed to join the embrace.
Rito sat in the middle of four beautiful girls, Alien Princess, Idol, Classmate, and Little Sister, all united by the Golden Seals. The warmth was overwhelming. The scent of them, the sound of their laughter, the sheer impossibility of the situation... it was perfect.
'I did it,' Rito thought, feeling a mix of overwhelming happiness and physical exhaustion wash over him. 'I actually conquered the hardest route. The Sister Route is cleared. The Harem is stable.'
He leaned back against the headboard, closing his eyes for a second, letting the victory sink in.
Bzzt. Bzzt.
Rito's phone buzzed violently on the nightstand, rattling against the wood and breaking the moment.
He extricated an arm from Lala's hair and picked it up. It was an unknown number from Tokyo.
"H-Hello?" Rito answered, his voice still shaky from the group hug and the lingering adrenaline.
"Is this Hoshino Ryūto-sensei?" a sharp, professional voice asked on the other end. "This is the editorial department of Weekly Shonen Jump. We've reviewed the manuscript you sent us... the one titled 'Dragon Ball'."
Rito's heart stopped.
He sat up straighter, the sheet falling to his waist, exposing his chest to the cool air. The girls quieted down, sensing the shift in his demeanor.
"Hoshino-sensei? Are you there?" the editor continued, the excitement palpable even over the phone. "We want to confirm serialization immediately. The paneling, the art style, the story... it's revolutionary. This is going to be a hit. No, scratch that, this is going to change the industry."
Rito looked at his harem.
He looked at Lala, who was beaming at him, already knowing he would succeed. He looked at Run and Haruna, who watched him with curiosity. And he looked at Mikan, who was smiling at him with a knowing look, her hand resting on her Seal.
She knew. She knew he had been working on this. She was his Foundation and assistant, after all.
A grin, shy, but undeniably victorious, spread across Rito's face.
"Yes," Rito said into the phone, his voice ringing with a newfound confidence. "I'm ready. Let's start the serialization."
He hung up the phone and looked at his family.
"Well," Rito said, rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed again, looking at the four girls who owned his heart. "Looks like I'm going to be a manga artist, too. I'm going to need a lot of support."
Lala cheered. Mikan squeezed his hand.
Everything was perfect.
But in the back of his mind, Rito knew the pattern of stories like this. Peace never lasted long. And somewhere in the galaxy, a darkness was beginning to stir.
Volume 5: The Forbidden Sister Arc — END
*****
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