My Taboo Academy

"We can at least hold hands, right?"

"Ah, no... you idiot...!"

Aria practically fled back to her seat.

’Should I stop here?’

My heart was racing.

Was building a harem always this fun and nerve-wracking?

Only I could bring the squad back together again.

Going into the dungeon alone with Elle would be nice, of course.

But without Aria it would feel incomplete. Bittersweet.

I had to keep pushing.

Even if I felt guilty offering my heart to another woman while already having a girlfriend,

Ever since I started this Harem Romance just knowing the range of possible choices had widened filled me with a strange excitement.

Making the heroines accept the rules of this Harem Game was still difficult...

But I believed conversation and genuine feeling were better than force.

Love instead of ownership. Talking instead of taking.

’...Aria.’

During class I kept staring at the delicate line of her back.

The more I looked, the more I realized how beautiful she actually was. Her smiling face was especially adorable.

That soft hazel hair suited her perfectly, and her blue eyes were captivating.

Compared to dazzling heroines like Regina, the kind who shone just by existing, like a student council president. Aria had a quieter presence.

But "quiet" in this academy still meant she was remarkably pretty.

’I like Aria too. I don’t want us to drift apart.’

If I kept this careful distance, we would never truly connect.

So the moment first period ended I walked straight to her seat.

Several female students nearby immediately focused on us.

"Come take a walk with me."

"..."

Aria looked a little embarrassed by the sudden attention and whispers, but she still stood up and followed.

How could she refuse an invitation from Ren Asahi?

"You’re acting weird today, Ren Asahi."

She used the full name keeping a little distance.

Aria studied my face carefully.

"Why are you suddenly paying attention to me?"

"..."

I led her out of the building to a quiet spot where no one could overhear.

This should be far enough.

"Did you hear something from Elle?"

’Shit.’

Had I been that obvious?

This was exactly the kind of conflict that came from a man with a girlfriend trying to approach someone else.

Aria was looking at me with clear hostility now.

"That’s right."

"...What is?"

"Don’t play dumb. You heard everything from Elle, didn’t you? That’s why you’re suddenly acting all considerate."

"..."

"Don’t try to make a joke out of it. Whatever you heard, it’s already finished."

It must have hurt her pride.

From Aria’s point of view, she probably thought I was only being nice because Elle had asked me to.

"Elle doesn’t matter right now."

Once I got to know her, Elle turned out to be a shy girl who just happened to enjoy harem romance stories.

She had gotten upset thinking her own mother had stolen her boyfriend.

From the beginning I never planned to give myself only to Aria.

She was simply a good girlfriend who followed my lead.

"What? So...?"

"I still like you, Aria. That’s why "

*Smack!!*

Aria’s shin kick landed cleanly.

"Ugh!!?"

B-class Hunter power!

I dropped to one knee on the spot.

"Have you lost your mind? What kind of nonsense is that?"

"No, wait... "

This wasn’t going right at all.

Harems were way too complicated!!

"Ren Asahi, is this what you wanted? Did you pick Elle just because she’s easy?"

"That’s not it."

"I’m leaving. Don’t follow me."

I grabbed her arm as she turned away.

"Just listen. The three of us... "

"You should have chosen earlier."

"Aria?"

"You already chose Elle."

"..."

She shook my hand off and walked away, leaving me alone.

...Somehow I could already predict what would happen next.

Time froze.

"Grrrrrrrrrrr!! That dense heroine!!"

"Calm down, Mira! Calm down!!"

"Let me go! I’ll discipline her with a dildo shaped exactly like your cock!"

When did she even make that?!

I grabbed the tiny rampaging goddess.

She was so small yet so violent!

"How dare she speak that way to you , the perverted sex goat?! And she even used violence?!"

"I’ve never been a goat for anything like that!"

"If Ren offers to put his cock in you, you should be grateful! Lie down, spread your legs, and accept it into this unworthy heroine’s pussy!"

"What kind of heroine says that?!"

I put the snippy goddess in a light chokehold.

"Urk... gurk..."

"You calm now?"

A moment later I released her.

"Why are you so worked up? That reaction is completely normal."

"Aria wasn’t supposed to be this wicked... I feel betrayed."

"Calling it ’wicked’ is a bit much, don’t you think?"

With me as the new protagonist and the story changing,

The goddess seemed to be judging the heroines by different standards.

Aria, like any normal girl, would treat her boyfriend well.

She simply didn’t like seeing a man who already had a girlfriend openly flirting with someone else.

’There’s a high chance the original route never had me becoming close friends with Aria so easily.’

Aria was a meddlesome class president type.

I suspected that in the original story she might have been a heroine who got sacrificed after letting her guard down while helping the pitiful, unattractive former Ren.

That was just how these games worked.

Because I had taken such an unusual route, I had managed to draw out this rare aggressive side of her.

"Do you actually enjoy getting rejected by heroines?"

"That’s not the part I like."

Being a living person means getting angry at things that should make you angry and happy at things that should make you happy.

It’s about being honest with your feelings.

I liked that version of Aria.

"Thanks, Mira. For getting angry on my behalf."

"Mr. Ren."

"Sometimes you go a little overboard, but I can’t imagine Lustbound without you anymore."

As if she had never been furious, the petite blonde goddess proudly puffed out her small chest.

"But this time I’ll handle it myself."

"That seems completely wrong. Are you sure? Should I give you ’Instant Breeding Press’?"

A wave of light spread out. The goddess demonstrated another one of her bizarre powers.

"Ta-da! Shameless Instant Mating! Enter a perverted sex state with any girl Ren desires at any moment Just by making eye contact you can jump straight into intense, seed-sowing sex!"

"No..."

[You have acquired the power of ’Shameless Instant Mating’!]

"..."

Stop adding weird things to my status window. Watching the goddess of Lustbound say "Audacious heroines, ready for instant sex?" in the exact same tone as "Would you like some tea?" made me feel like a complete amateur pervert rather than some legendary sex god.

Still perverted. Still naive.

Capable of harm, yet still naive.

Breaking free from pure love was not easy.

"Eh? You’re not going to use the perverted sex power?"

"I don’t think all the feelings I’ve built up have disappeared. Aria will cool down and think it over too."

I had real feelings for Aria.

It was important that I said them out loud.

"Perverted sex can come later."

Saying it felt embarrassing.

Mira grinned mischievously.

"Hehe, as expected of Lustbound’s protagonist! You had a plan all along?"

"Well... I have my own grandiose perverted sex plan, I suppose."

That was a complete lie.

After more than ten years of being a pure-love-obsessed pervert, I had no such ridiculous plan.

"I’m looking forward to it, Ren!"

The blonde goddess hopped up and pecked me on the cheek.

What the...

[Goddess’s Approval +3]

Why was she doing cute things all of a sudden?

She used to act in ways that never matched her appearance.

Leaving the still-blushing Mira behind, I returned to the academy building.

Next period.

’Dungeon exploration time...’

Who wanted to pair with me? Naturally, no one.

I leaned against the wall in a quiet corner of the indoor training grounds and stayed still.

I fiddled with my gear, pretending to prepare, because I believed that if I looked this pathetic someone meddlesome would definitely approach.

"...What are you doing by yourself?"

*Whoosh.*

I turned around.

Aria stood there, fully prepared, wearing an awkward and slightly bashful expression.

"After everything that just happened... I honestly thought you might not show."

"I believed in you."

And that was exactly why I liked Aria.

"..."

"You said you’d come to the dungeon."

Aria’s fingers kept fidgeting with the hilt of her sword, restless.

"You shouldn’t make promises so easily... sigh..."

"Will you help me anyway?"

"...You... total Casanova!"

Yikes.

Even her angry outbursts were ridiculously cute.

How could someone be this adorable? She really was the true heroine.

’The beautiful ones really are the best.’

"I’m warning you now, if you try anything weird inside the dungeon, I’m leaving you behind immediately."

"Understood."

Even while saying that, I could tell she didn’t truly dislike me. Aria still had feelings, just like the ones I had already confessed.

The real harem game was only beginning.

When a man who already had a girlfriend proposed something this unconventional, of course the other girl would feel lost.

Right now Aria was standing at that exact crossroads.

Most harem stories resolved this kind of inner conflict with sex.

Or with manipulative gaslighting.

Sometimes the conflict never even appeared because of status or circumstances.

I wanted to leave a little more of this to the heroine herself.

Let her think it through...

...and hopefully choose to come to me on her own.

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