A cold sweat seeped down my back. Damn… Am I really that easy to read?
“Wow, so that’s what you think of us, huh?!” said Momozawa. “Well, screw you too, you little buttwipe.”
It was a simple insult, but that made it sting even worse.
“Can you really blame him, though?” Nashimoto chimed in. “Pretty sure that’s what most people would assume. I know I definitely thought it sounded pretty sketchy before taking the leap myself.”
“Wait, for real?” said Momozawa. “I just thought it sounded hella fun, honestly.”
“That’s because you’re kind of a ditz, no offense. You wouldn’t know a red flag if it walked up and slapped you across the face.”
“Nah, you all just overthink everything. Love should be freeing, not stressful!”
As the two girls chattered on, I took a sip of my coffee.
It appeared that none of the three had been deceived or blackmailed into going out with Sera; they’d all made that choice of their own volition. And they seemed like relatively normal people, at least judging from the brief interaction we’d had so far.
If anything, that only made me more confused. Why would any normal, well-adjusted person choose to be in this sort of relationship—and with Sera, of all people—assuming they had literally any other option?
“Do you think our relationship is immoral, Sakuma-kun?” Yuzuki asked, the same affectionate look in her eye as an adult addressing a small child.
“…I wouldn’t go so far as to call it immoral, per se. But it does confuse me.”
“I appreciate your honesty. But the main thing you need to understand here is that your idea of what a relationship should be is fundamentally different from ours.”
I furrowed my brow. “In what way?”
“Well, I can only speak for myself… Whereas you might consider yourself and your significant other to be partners, I consider all four of us to be a team, if that makes sense. We work together to help each other feel less lonely, fulfill each other’s wants and needs, and provide the pleasure and excitement we all crave. Two-person relationships often ask too much of each individual, since both will be expected to meet virtually all of the other person’s needs, and that can feel restrictive and breed jealousy and resentment. This can happen even if both people ultimately want the same things out of the relationship. But when you’re a team, the risk of that becoming too great a burden is dramatically reduced. It’s a far more humanistic way of going about being in love than your traditional monogamous relationship.”
Humanistic was not an adjective I’d typically think to use in the context of romance. I chewed over Yuzuki’s explanation for a moment; I could understand what she was saying. Some parts made perfectly good sense to me, from a logical standpoint. But it was still hard for me to fully digest right away, like I’d just been given a massive convoluted info-dump in a sci-fi novel about the in-universe lore, which I needed to understand for the plot to make any sense whatsoever. Perhaps my biggest issue was…
“Are you just parroting how Sera explained it to you, though?”
“You’re awfully guarded when it comes to Ikkun, aren’t you? Not that a bit of skepticism is unwarranted when it comes to him,” Yuzuki said with a refined smile. This didn’t answer my question, but thankfully she continued, “It’s about half and half, I’d say. My views are my own, but they’re also far from unique. If you asked Ikkun to explain things to you, I’m sure you’d recognize a lot of the same ideas. Where I differ is a product of personal philosophy and time spent in contemplation.”
“…I see.”
For whatever reason, I was on tenterhooks now. Was it largely still Sera’s philosophy, then, or was it different enough to be considered separate? Which parts had Yuzuki come up with herself? I felt weirdly unsatisfied with this explanation, but I couldn’t summon the urge to ask her to clarify.
“You and your dumb old ‘logic,’ Yuzucchi, I swear…” Momozawa grumbled, snapping a cookie in half between her teeth and sending a shower of crumbs raining down upon the table. “No need to be all philosophical about it when you can sum it up in just five words: ‘more lovers equals more fun.’ Boom. Simple as that.”
“Wait,” I said. “Do you have other boyfriends, Momozawa?”
“That’s Momozawa-san to you, kid. Respect your elders.”
“Oh, sorry… Do you have other boyfriends aside from Sera, Momozawa-san?”
Meanwhile, she doesn’t give a damn about respecting her elders when it comes to Yuzuki, but whatever…
“Nah, I don’t,” said Momozawa. “But girlfriends, on the other hand…”
She shot Yuzuki a suggestive look, which the other girl warmly returned.
Oh, wait… Is that what’s going on here?!
Obviously, I knew lesbians were a thing, and bisexual people too—but to my knowledge, I’d never actually met either before, so it was pretty difficult to conceal my surprise. I couldn’t believe they actually existed, even out in my neck of the woods.
Well, duh. Of course they do, Sakuma, you moron…
It went without saying that sexual minorities—or, more generally, people whose identities didn’t fall neatly into society’s preestablished “norms”—existed in all parts of the world… Even if they might often feel like they needed to hide who they were in order to fit in, like Ushio had for many years. I should’ve known that much, at least.
I felt pretty embarrassed with myself all of a sudden, being in this company. Of the five of us here, I was the only one who’d never had to worry that the world might reject me for who I was or whom I loved.
“I think Eriri-chan’s probably the closest to me, in terms of philosophy,” said Sera. “Life’s all about having fun… Who needs more reason than that? Whether it’s friends, family, or lovers—the more the merrier, I say. Most folks are just too stuck-up or set in their ways to admit to themselves that our lifestyle is better than theirs. Isn’t that right?”