Seeing Rentaro’s guileless smile, Mei momentarily struggled for words. “I am delighted to share the joy of learning a new task with you, Rentaro-sama,” she said finally.
“I totally get it!”
The comment brought a smile to Mei’s face. In Rentaro’s mind, however, he’d replaced the words “learning a new task” with “going on a date.” At that moment, he didn’t see it as work in the slightest.
“You learned the job bit by bit, just like I’m doing now,” he remarked.
“Young and inexperienced as I am, there is much that I learn every single day.”
“You have such a great work ethic. I’ve gotta study hard too.”
Even now, Mei demonstrated how she wiped the windows clean without a hint of complaint. She had honed this talent through many hours of hard work, but the maid was not yet satisfied with her skills.
A question occurred to Rentaro. “This is still a job, though. Aren’t there ever times when you’ve thought, ‘This is tough,’ or ‘I’m exhausted’?”
“My job? Tough?” Mei tilted her head in confusion.
Rentaro gulped. “It’s never even occurred to you once, has it?!”
“I am always elated when I am useful to Hahari-sama.”
“Spoken like a textbook workaholic!”
“But now,” Mei said, glancing in Rentaro’s direction, “that is not the only thing I live for.” Her cheeks were ever so slightly flushed. “Being able to spend time with you, and with everyone else, also brings me joy.”
“Same here. You give me so much happiness!”
Indeed, it was just as Mei declared. Nothing could be more fun than spending time with the person you love. Even if that time was spent cleaning.
Sunday, 6 a.m.
When Rentaro left Mei to start her morning tasks, he headed off for his next destination. A somewhat slender young girl waited for him in front of a restaurant known for its breakfast buffet.
“Good morning, Kurumi! Sorry I kept you waiting!”
“Morning. Don’t worry. I wasn’t waiting or nothing.”
The girl in a hoodie who refused to meet Rentaro’s eyes was Haraga Kurumi. She was also Rentaro’s girlfriend.
“Anyway, let’s go inside already, Rentaro-senpai. I’m getting hungry…” Her stomach was making a very distinct rumbling noise.
“Argh, now I’m getting pissed off!” She scratched her head in frustration.
Rentaro took her by the hand. “Okay, let’s go in and order!” He wasted no time getting her inside and finding seats. “Two people for the breakfast buffet, please.”
“Sure! Please, help yourselves!” the waiter responded cheerfully.
“Okay, let’s go grab some food,” said Rentaro.
“Mm-hmm… Whoa, there’s a ton of stuff here.” Kurumi still looked disgruntled, but when she caught sight of all the food stacked across the cavernous room, her eyes regained their sparkle. “The sausages, bacon, and omelets are to die for! Whoa! The roast beef is soooo good too! They have a whole set of dried fish! Should I have rice or bread? Why not both?! Soup with or without miso? I say again, why not both?! I can’t get enough of that smoothie, either! Nice, they even have a ton of sushi!”
On and on she went as she stacked an impressive tower on her plate. In the blink of an eye, she’d already created a mountain.
“Miss?” said a nervous-looking waitress. “We ask that you not take more food than you can eat…”
“This is all going down the hatch, for sure! You’ll see, Miss!” Rentaro beamed and gave a thumbs-up in support.
“I-I see…”
The waitress seemed less than convinced, though one could hardly blame her. She was currently dealing with what appeared to be a troublesome customer. Soon enough, however, she would see the truth.
After returning to their seats, Rentaro and Kurumi both clapped their hands together. “Itadakimasu!”
Kurumi’s eyes sparkled as if she were beholding treasure. After a bit of deliberation, she started devouring the sausage.
“Yummyyyyyyy!” Her sparkling eyes exploded in pure glee.
The waitress watched, utterly bewildered. Kurumi packed away the food at an astonishing rate, all while savoring every bite. Before long, her plate was empty.
“Okay, next!”
In the blink of an eye, Kurumi had devoured her first serving, which normally would have been enough for a small family. She waded back into the sea of food for seconds. Kurumi digested food at a superlative speed. Even straight after a full meal, she still found herself unsated.
“Hmm? Are you done already, Rentaro-senpai?” she asked, tilting her head questioningly. She had just noticed that Rentaro only had a coffee cup in front of him.
“Yep. Just watching you have so much fun eating is enough to sate me.”
Kurumi blinked in surprise. “W-well, if you say so!”
She looked down, face slightly red, and resumed her meal. If Rentaro was perfectly honest, he was confident that just hearing her girlish voice when she’d exclaimed “Yummyyyyyyy!” would be enough to sustain him for days on end. Today, however, he had eaten enough to feel fairly full. Not so full that he couldn’t eat another bite, but…
“Hey!” a waiter yelled to the kitchen staff. “At this pace, we’ll be totally out of food in just a few minutes!”
“We’re past our limit here! Bus out anything that’s done!”
“If we run out of food, our reputation as an all-you-can-eat place is gonna tank!”
“We’re low on ingredients! I’m gonna dash out and get more!”
“Holy cow! When they said that this was ‘all going down the hatch,’ were they talking about wiping out our stores too?!”
Rentaro felt a bit sorry for the harried-looking staff members, who all looked as grim as soldiers on a battlefield.
Sunday, 9 a.m.
“Kurumi, didn’t you say you had somewhere to be around this time?”
“Yeah, but not anymore. I was gonna have the limited-stock ramen they sell at nine, but the restaurant’s closed today.”
Right on the heels of the buffet, Kurumi planned to eat a whole other dish. This was par for the course for her, however, so Rentaro didn’t bother calling her out on it.
“Okay, do you wanna keep hanging ou—hm?”
Rentaro was just about to invite Kurumi to accompany him to his next destination. However, just as they left the restaurant, he spotted a group of girls. There was no way Rentaro could mistake any of them. Hakari, Karane, Shizuka, Nano, Kusuri, Hahari, Mei… They were all Rentaro’s girlfriends.
“Hey, guys. Didn’t everyone besides Hakari have plans?”
When Kurumi joined the pack, all eight were assembled. Karane and the others glared at Rentaro.
“Forget about the date. Go to sleep!” they all—with the exception of Kurumi and Mei—barked at him.
“I’m retracting my plans!” Karane exclaimed.
“Rentaro-kun,” said Hakari, “I had no idea that you had been up for twenty-four hours.”
“Whoa. Are you for real, Rentaro-senpai?” Kurumi looked shocked.
‹When every fellow made contact,› Shizuka’s app intoned, ‹the truth came to light.›
“Sleep deprivation causes the brain’s functions to decline, lowering efficiency,” Nano pointed out.
Rentaro nodded earnestly at his fretting girlfriends. “But I exist at your beck and call twenty-four hours a day,” he declared, his eyes clear and guiltless.
Mei was the only one who sympathized with Rentaro. “I also devote twenty-four hours of my day to Hahari-sama,” she said.
Naturally, this only earned her a scolding.
“You were up all night working too?!” Hahari groaned. “You ought to get some sleep yourself!”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Aye, you can take this ‘Stay Stimulated All Night Medicine’ if you don’t wanna sle—mmf!” Kusuri was about to bring out an obviously inappropriate drug when Shizuka gently stifled her mouth.
Rentaro’s girlfriends circled him.
“Let’s have a nap date!” Karane insisted. “We’ll join you!”
“Technically, it’s still too early for a nap,” Hakari pointed out.
“Why don’t we have our nap party at my house?” Hahari suggested.
“Pajamas have already been prepared,” said Mei.
“Why’ve you got pajamas for all of us?” Kurumi demanded.
“It would be more illogical for Hanazono Hahari not to have pajamas on demand,” Nano interjected.
“Yay!” Kusuri jumped for joy. “A morning sleepover! Aye!”
‹Verily, what an amusing prospect!›
And with that, the entire group made for the Hanazono house in good cheer.
Surrounded by his eight girlfriends, Rentaro had a moment of introspection. Yesterday, everyone had their own plans, so I had to do a series of one-on-one dates…but I have the most fun when I’m with everyone.
Normally, an eight-timing man would experience hell on Earth if his girlfriends got together, but this particular group—the Rentaro family—were all in sync.
This is a story about a man who would eventually woo one hundred girlfriends, a tale of love and peace, overflowing with smiles.
“Hahari-sama, I believe there were sightings of a suspicious person around here,” said Mei.