Our second day on the cruise ship started, and we started looking for the monster immediately after breakfast. I must have been more tired than I thought because I ended up sleeping without any problems. After the bomb Hecate dropped last night, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get any sleep.

  “Iroha, can you check the shower section next?” Hecate and I were pairing up again, and it was a little awkward.

  “Sure… Leave it to me.” The two of us were investigating the changing room near the pool area, a spot where we had to keep our guard up the whole time. This is where one of the passengers apparently got attacked.

  The changing room was split into two sections. One with multiple showering units and the other with lockers and rooms to change.

  I checked the showering units one by one with my sword by my waist. Something that was really hard to achieve, because we’re all in swimsuits again. Hecate woke up before me to make breakfast for everyone, so I couldn’t see what she was wearing. Imagine my surprise when I arrive at the table for breakfast, and I’m the only weirdo wearing normal clothes! Why? Makes no sense. They’re the weirdos for wearing swimsuits for no reason.

  In the end, I succumbed to peer pressure and changed. After searching through a couple of empty showering units in this getup, I finally found something. “Ughh… I think I found something, Hecate. There’s still blood in this one…” Dry blood and scratches on the wall. At least someone was kind enough to remove the body…

  “The scratches lead outside, don’t they? Seems like this isn’t our target’s nest. What a barbaric creature…” Hecate stood next to me, inspecting the dry blood and the mess.

  “At least we found some clues… Do we go to some other place now?”

  “Not yet.” Hecate walked away from the unit. “Let’s see if we can find any more clues here before meeting back with the others.”

  “Alright…” And so resumed our quiet and awkward search. What am I going to do about Hecate? I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about her anymore… We’re rivals now, aren’t we? Not yet? I don’t know…

  I need to like, simplify my thoughts first… What’s at stake here? Love… Mine and hers. We both love the same people. We’re competing for the affection of the same people, so usually, we’d be rivals. But is it really that simple? I don’t want my relationship with her to be like that…

  If it’s a competition, best case scenario, I somehow win and end up dating the other three. Is that even a good outcome? I’m already dating Carol, and it’s awesome. I’d be super happy about dating Katja and Narumi too. But… Hecate would be all alone, wouldn’t she?

  What if we split them? Maybe two of them like me more, one likes Hecate more, and everyone wins. It’s possible that either Katja or Narumi would just not be interested in relationships. Then it’d be one for each of us… They shouldn’t be forcing themselves into a relationship if they don’t want to. But no… this isn’t really a good option, is it? It would just raise more barriers between all of us. The fun and wonderful connections we have now would be gone.

  Then what? Do I have no choice but to hurt someone? To hurt Hecate? Choices are necessarily about prioritizing one thing over another. If I prioritize my happiness, someone will end up suffering as a result of that. Isn’t there a way to make everyone happy?

  I was looking near the side of the lockers when I stopped to think, staring at the blue tiled wall in front of me. A way to make everyone happy… That’s what a harem is for, right…?

  A new option popped into my head. I love both Carol and Ririna with all my heart. That’s not enough by itself, but it’s probably needed for them to be happy. I can love more than just the two of them, and Hecate’s clearly the same… Someone who loves too much… But who’s to say the others are different? That means…

  Hecate and I should double-team Carol! My face burned red. Wait, wait! What kind of perverted conclusion is that? I don’t think poor Carol would be able to take it! She’d break! Ahh… well… where was I? I’m starting to think my thoughts are getting lewder and lewder. Not that that’s anything new for me.

  That’s one possibility, though. I do like Carol, Katja, and Narumi, but I also like Hecate. I don’t wanna hurt her. In fact, I want the opposite. Maybe it’s fine if we all love each other without stressing about who’s whose. But then again… I do want my girls to be my girls… I think I’d end up getting a little jealous if we shared them. And at the same time, isn’t this what I’m asking of Carol and Ririna? I may actually be a monster…

  I don’t know… I can’t find the correct answer. This is a very important decision, isn’t it? What does my ideal harem look like? This is a lot more complicated than I thought…

  …

  It was the middle of the afternoon when we gathered to talk about our findings. This was the second meeting of the day, with the first one used to narrow down the area of our search. All the clues we found were in the back of the ship, so we stuck to searching that part.

  “We found nothing even after we narrowed it down… Is there really a monster here?” I couldn’t help but sigh. It felt like we wasted our whole day for nothing. We stood outside near the pool around one of the tables. Carol and I sat on the side of one of the long chairs while Narumi sat on the table itself.

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  “If the monster vanished, there’s nothing we can do.” Said Katja. “We can only say that the ship is safe if we can find and eliminate the monster. We’ll have to keep searching.”

  “But we looked through every possible location, haven’t we?” Continued the cute girl next to me. “Unless it’s actually hiding in the front of the ship… But that’s unlikely.”

  “Just because it’s unlikely doesn’t mean it’s impossible…” Katja crossed her arms. “Given our manpower, focusing on the back was the right decision with the evidence we found. If the monster ever went to the front, we’d expect to at least find some scratches. But it’s completely possible that we just missed them…”

  “What if the scratches at the back are just bait?” This might be a wild idea, but I’ll say it. “Maybe the monster’s smart enough for that. What if it hides in the front but moves carefully to avoid leaving any scratches there? It makes us think it only acts in the back while disappearing without a trace. Could that be it?”

  “Ahahaha! No way, Iroha!” Narumi looked over her shoulder while swinging her legs. “If the monster was that smart and able to move without leaving a trace, it wouldn’t leave any trace at all. Mysteries are harder the fewer clues there are. Even a red herring is a clue.”

  “O- oh… I see…” W- wow… Is this the power of her brain when she’s not distracted with her phone? Damn, Narumi…

  “I suppose we have no choice but to accept our fate. Even if unlikely, we’ll have to search the front.” Hecate turned to Katja while holding her parasol.

  “It really should be here in the back… Is there anywhere we’ve forgotten to look?” Katja turned in place, trying to come up with more ideas. “Maybe we should give up for the day and look in the front tomorrow.”

  “Somewhere we haven’t looked…?” I enter into thought together with the others. Are we missing something? Am I missing something… Hmm… “Let’s go in the pool!”

  “Agreed!” In the instant after I said that, Narumi raised her hand cheerfully.

  “Uhhh… Sorry, but did you two forget we’re not here to have fun…?” Katja and the others looked at us in disbelief. “Then again… It doesn’t look like we’re gonna find anything else today, so I guess we can take a break… Just a little irresponsible to suggest that out of nowhere.”

  “Wait, Katja, it’s not like that.” Something good will happen if you gather a bunch of people in the pool. That’s what Miyuki said. “Maybe the monster’s hiding underwater. We haven’t searched there yet. If I’m wrong, then we can just have fun.”

  “Hmm… It’s worth a try…”

  …

  “Bwaah!” One after the other, the five of us emerged from our dives in a circle. The water we flung into the air created a short-lived rainbow over our heads.

  “Did any of you see anything?” Katja shook her head, flinging her pink hair from side to side. “It was a good idea, but I had no luck.”

  “At least it’s one more place off the list. Too bad it didn’t work out, huh?” Carol turned to me with a sympathetic smile.

  “Ahahaha… I really thought it might be hiding in here. It’s easy to overlook, so it would be an amazing hiding spot. Then again, it’s not like most monsters are able to survive underwater, right?” We left our weapons outside before going into the pool, so at least it’s nice that we didn’t get attacked. Other than Carol’s, all their weapons have lots of mechanical parts with them extending and whatnot, so it’s better if they don’t get too wet.

  “It’s alright! I think your guess was good.” Narumi said energetically while floating in a weird sideways pose, resting her head on her hand. How is she even doing that? “For the monster to be on a cruise, it makes sense that it would like water. Either way, now that we’re all here, we can finally have fun! Right, Katja? You said we were done for the day.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. Spending all day on this would be unhealthy. Let’s take a break for a change of pace.” Katja stretched her arms, preparing herself to swim.

  *Sigh…* What a bummer. Wasn’t something good supposed to happen once we gathered in the pool? I guess Miyuki’s predictions are not infallible… I took a look around and a light bulb went off in my head. Something good… I thought ‘good’ was us finding the target for our mission, but she never said that. Getting to swim together with a handful of beauties might be what she was referring to! That’s right! When it comes to good things, bathing with them is like heaven on earth! I get it now! My eyes have been opened! Thank you, Miyuki! I’m so sorry for doubting you! I hope the day I can see you in a swimsuit too is not far!

  “Hey, hey, what’s wrong with her?” Narumi whispered to Carol.

  “No idea… Probably something dumb.” Carol answered, and Narumi shrugged it off.

  “Okay, I got an idea!” She continued. “Let’s all play together!”

  “Huh? Play? How old do you think we are, Narumi? Do whatever you want. Just don’t try to drag me into yo- Brblrbl!” Narumi splashed Carol with a big wave, and her last words came from underwater.

  “Come on, Carol. Why are you being such a killjoy? Is there any rule that says people above a certain age are not allowed to play? There isn’t, right? No reason for you to complain. Unless you have a rule that says you have to complain?”

  Carol was so annoyed that a funny angry vein popped up in her forehead. “Narumi… you little… The only rule I need for you is paying you back threefold!” Carol splashed Narumi back and started chasing her around the pool.

  Katja, Hecate, and I got dragged into their fight as either Narumi splashed us while running or Carol hit us by missing Narumi. We retaliated when splashed, but then collateral damage would hit someone else until we were all splashing each other.

  “!?” Déjà vu! Narumi was still running around, and she was getting close to me. I suddenly remembered something. This is just like that time when we bathed together at the House. It all started with small splashes until Narumi lifted me up and tried to throw me! I can’t let her catch me! “No way I’m falling for that again!” I prepared myself to dodge the moment Narumi got close. Fufufu… I can see through you with ease!

  *Splash!*

  Boom! Out of nowhere I got hit in the face by a cannonball! That’s not right… I’d be dead… A water ball, not a cannonball. That’s what I meant. Felt like a cannon, though… After me, Narumi, Carol, and even Hecate got hit too. Looking for the culprit, Katja was standing there with a huge water gun in her hand. When the hell did she get that?

  “Woah! That’s not fair! I want one too!”

  “They’re right there.” Katja pointed to a basket behind her. It wasn’t there before… Did she sneak off to get it for us? How considerate of her.

  “Here it goes!” Narumi rushed to the basket and swung it, tossing its contents flying before diving back in. Before one of the plastic guns hit us in the head, we all dove to avoid Narumi’s bombardment.

  “Ahahahaha! What the hell? I guess we’re doing this!” I grabbed one of the guns to shoot before I got shot. Katja’s blasts were really strong… Weren’t water guns supposed to be very weak? I can’t remember the last time I’ve used one. The water gun industry must have had a crazy boom while I wasn’t looking! “Carol, let’s take out Narumi and Katja together!”

  “That’s good! You wanna go?” Narumi readied her gun. “Join us, Hecate! Let’s punish them for their escapade!”

  “Damn it! Did you have to phrase it like that?!” With red cheeks, Carol opened fire, and a huge war started in our private cruise.

  …

  “Whew… I’m beat!” Narumi spread her arms and leaned against the ledge of the pool. I don’t know how many shots were fired during World War II, but after firing what felt like more, we were all exhausted. Having done their job, our colorful guns floated around in the pool while we unwound around in a circle.

  “Seriously… I can’t believe I let myself get dragged into this.” Hecate placed a hand on her cheek and sighed.

  “What’s important is that we were all able to take a break. I hope this helps us work hard tomorrow.” Katja seemed pleased with the results of our activity.

  “What? Work tomorrow? No one told me anything about that.” We all stared at Narumi. Again? We were so synchronized that we started laughing.

  “Something good, huh…?” Turns out Miyuki was absolutely right. Feels great to have fun like this into the late afternoon. It’s getting late, but it’s still so sunny outside… This summer’s coming at us with full force…

  I closed my eyes and relaxed while covered in a cool shadow… Shadow? There shouldn’t be anything around to cast a shadow… Oh, it’s the jumping board, tall and looming over the pool. Was it always leaning that much? Either I’m really tired, or I’m seeing things… The plank seems narrower towards the end but also thicker. It’s starting to look like a spike…

  “Watch out!” The spike slammed into the pool as I pushed Hecate out of the way. I was next in the trajectory, so I grabbed it with both hands and got pushed to the bottom of the pool. I wasn’t seeing things! The jumping board twisted into the shape of a war pick. That’s not all. Before sinking, there was some kind of lizard standing next to the pool. Don’t wanna jinx anything, but… I think we found our target!