Makoto's phone started buzzing with messages from the group chat.
Yuna: Are you done fucking Mafuyu-nee yet, you fat pig? It's been over an hour. Some of us are trying to sleep.
Ayane: I heard a lot of screaming. It sounded like you guys were having fun. Did you get any good footage? I'm asking for a friend.
Mika: I've ordered a celebratory dinner. It should be here in thirty minutes. I hope you're both decent by then, or not.
"Ahem, it seems like we were too loud..." Makoto giggled, scratching Mafuyu's back. "The girls helped us order dinner, too. They're kind, aren't they?"
Mafuyu stirred in his arms, letting out a small, sleepy murmur of protest. She nuzzled deeper against him, a warm, pliant weight of blissful exhaustion.
"Mmm... dinner? My bad, I was supposed to make it tonight." Her eyes fluttered open, hazy and unfocused, and she looked up at him with sated contentment. "They are really kind, just a little scary."
A sad smile touched her lips. "I don't think I'll ever be as strong as them," She took a deep, shuddering breath, the scent of him, of his release, filling her lungs. "But I want to be," she added, her voice a little stronger now.
"I want to stay by your side. I want to be a part of your... your harem or whatever, Makoto." She looked up at him, her eyes wide and pleading. "Do you think... do you think they'll let me?"
Makoto chuckled, "I don't think Yuna would be against it. She used to look up to you back then. Let's see...."
They rested for a while until he heard the doorbell ring. Then he helped Mafuyu walk back to the living room. The chaos of the cosplay project had been neatly contained and pushed to one corner of the room. Ayane's futon had been folded and put away. The air smelled of takeout food and a lingering electric tension.
Yuna and Ayane were sitting on the floor with a low table between them. A mountain of food containers was already spread out like a feast. Mika was setting out plates and chopsticks.
They all looked up as he entered.
Ayane just grinned; her smile sent a shiver down Makoto's back. "I think the whole neighborhood could hear your scream, Mama-fu." She winked at Mafuyu. "Welcome to the club."
Mika just smiled, her usual calculated smile. "We saved you a seat, Mafuyu," she said softly, patting the empty space right between her and Yuna. It was an invitation to her new place in the hierarchy.
Yuna's eyes landed on Mafuyu, on her flushed cheeks, her swollen lips, and the way she was leaning against Makoto for support. "Are you okay, Mafuyu-nee?" she muttered, her voice low and grudging. "You... you were very loud. Did Makoto force you to do anything?"
A complex expression crossed her face: There was a flicker of her usual possessive fury, a flash of something like jealousy. But underneath it all, there was a strange, almost reluctant concern as she noticed the light bruises on Mafuyu's neck.
Makoto's heart almost stopped when he saw the curious looks in Yuna's eyes. "I... I didn't hurt her, it was just some... rough play, I promise," he said, turning around, embarrassed.
"Rough play? Really!?" Yuna repeated, her voice dropping to a dangerous growl. She stood and stalked over to Mafuyu. She grabbed Mafuyu's arm, her touch surprisingly gentle, and examined the faint bruises Makoto had left.
Her face was a storm of conflicting emotions. There was anger, jealousy, but there was also a strange curiosity. "...Did you like it?"
Mafuyu's face exploded in a furious, splotchy blush. "I... I..." she stammered. But then, she took a deep, shuddering breath. "Yes, I... I did."
Yuna just stared at Mafuyu with shock written across her face. And then, a wicked grin spread across her features. "Oh, I see."
Ayane threw her head back and laughed. Her joyous laugh seemed to shake the entire room. "Oh, honey," she gasped, wiping a tear from her eye. "You are going to fit in here just fine."
Mika just smiled and finished pouring the drinks into cups. "I believe that this calls for a celebration."
===
The dinner went surprisingly well. It was filled with shared food, bickering, and laughter. By the time they were done, the floor was littered with empty containers, and the five of them were a warm, contented, sleepy pile of human Jenga.
"Okay, get out, big bro," Yuna announced, her voice a low, sleepy purr as she nudged Makoto with her foot. "We're having a girls' night."
Ayane yawned, making a feline stretch that showed off an astonishing amount of her cleavage. "She's right, we need to talk. Go back to your room to masturbate or play your stupid gacha games."
Makoto feigned a wounded betrayal. "What? You're kicking me out of my own harem?" His voice dropped to a pathetic whine, but he stood up with a fond smile. "Fine, but don't stay up too late. And call me if you need anything."
He retreated to his room, leaving the four of them in a warm and intimate female-only space.
Mafuyu, still a little overwhelmed by the events of the last hours, just sat there with her hands twisting in her lap. She felt like an intruder, a stranger in this strange and chaotic new family.
And then Ayane spoke. "So," she said, looking directly at Mafuyu with an amused glint. "A fellow masochist, huh?"
Mafuyu flinched with a mortified blush flooding her face. "I... I..." she stammered, her voice small and broken.
"Hey, cut it out, you pervert," Yuna snapped. She threw a cushion at Ayane, which bounced harmlessly off her head. "You're one to talk. You were practically begging for it back then."
Ayane just laughed. "Guilty as charged." She looked at Mafuyu with genuine care in her eyes. "But my point is, you don't have to be ashamed of it. At least, not here." She gestured around the messy living room. "We're all freaks. That's why he likes us."
Mika, who had been quietly observing this, finally spoke. "She's right," She looked at Mafuyu, her eyes shining with a welcoming light. "Yuna is a tsundere with an incestuous complex. Ayane has a degradation kink."
"And I..." She paused with a knowing smile. "I like to be in control. But I enjoy having that taken from me, too." She took a calm, deliberate sip of her tea. "And Makoto loves all of it."
"Oh, I almost forgot..." Yuna's picked up her phone, her thumbs flying across the screen with practiced ease.
[Yuna added Mafuyu to the group "Yuna and the Backups"]
Mafuyu's phone, which had been silent for almost a year, buzzed. She looked at the screen, her eyes wide with giddy hope. She was in, she was part of something, something chaotic, messy, but... warm.
For the first time in a very long time, she felt like she belonged.
"So," Ayane claps her hands together. "Now that we've gotten all that mushy emotional bullshit out of the way... I believe I promised someone a new weapon earlier." She stood up and disappeared into a corner near Yuna's room.
A moment later, she returned with a feral glint in her eyes. On her hand was a delicate, ridiculously skimpy pile of black-and-white fabric. "Ta-da! One Marin succubus costume as promised." She held it out to Mafuyu like an offering.
Mafuyu just stared, Mafuyu's mouth slightly agape. "I... I can't," she whispered. "I'd look ridiculous."
"Nonsense," Ayane said cheerfully. "You'll look amazing."
"She's right," Yuna chimed in, with a surprising note of genuine encouragement in her voice. "You've got the... the assets for it."
"It would be a shame to waste them," Mika agreed.
And then, before she could protest, Mafuyu was being undressed and redressed (against her will, or maybe not) by a surprisingly gentle army of her new family.