Book 5: Chapter 26

The rest of the week passed by both too quickly and too slowly. I agreed to Depravity’s demands. Now, all I had to do was wait and prepare. With Mary and NTR as guides, we hacked out various plans for any eventuality. That was easier said than done. After all, the two women still fought on just about every point. When I tried to get between their points, I truly came to know what it felt like to have the pressure of an angry god turned on you. Most of the time, it ended with me getting the wrath of both women.  

Other than planning out how I was going to defeat War, the rest of my time was spent with my women. Akiko, Kira, Sasori, Maria, and Mother were all there. Despite preparing my final strike, it ended up being a rather peaceful time in many ways. The girls started getting along and every day after school, everyone would end up finding their way to our house. Getting Mother to accept Sasori was easier than I expected. Mother hugged Sasori the second she walked into the home. I did tell her that father had an affair with Sasori for a while.

“Then, the pair of us have shared two men, yes?”

“R-right.”

“But never a third!” She shot Sasori a stern look.

“N-never!” Sasori nearly squeaked.

It looked like my mother’s ability to intimidate also affected my teacher as well. However, they were two women of roughly the same age, and so they started to get along and even got on friendly terms. Of course, when they started talking about sex, they often used me in their descriptions, and it became extremely embarrassing. At those times, I fled the room.

The worst of these events involved mom pulling out pictures of me as a baby. There was a surprisingly large amount of them that were naked! Perhaps, Mother had always been a closet son-con and I had just never realized it until now. Kira, Akiko, and Sasori went over them meticulously, and I spent that entire evening in my room mortified. Thankfully, Maria joined me, as many of those images included her as well, and we spent that night comforting each other intimately.

During that week, Sasori was able to get a new job. I didn’t know if it was just luck, or something Depravity did as a show of good faith. Sasori wasn’t allowed to return to her old job, but she got a job at a private high school. There were fewer students and they were mostly rich kids. The pay was better and the job was easier, so in just about every way it was a better job. We celebrated with her by going out to dinner. It didn’t end in an orgy or something, everything in my life didn’t have to be sex.

After two months of living like a normal kid again, I had managed to get my hormones in control again. I wasn’t going to go on a seducing rampage again as I did with Kira at the Riphorn All-girls school. That wasn’t saying I wouldn’t play with a new girl if the occasion called for it, but I was generally happy with my family, my girlfriend, my mistresses, and my goddesses. Well, Mary and I hadn’t done anything physical, and neither had I done anything with NTR.

Mary was saving herself for the process that would bring me to godhood. Even though I had never technically been with NTR because she had reassembled using me, even if I slept with her, it wouldn’t do anything. Of course, Mary insisted that I not sleep with NTR until she’s been with me first. I accepted this requirement since it seemed to be one of the few things both women could accept. That just left me my five mortal women to warm my bed.

Finally, the last night arrived. It was a Friday night, and tomorrow, while school was closed, we’d be meeting once again at the auditorium to face whatever War brought. Depravity had announced that day that it was the last day he’d be teaching that class. He told them he had found a proper replacement to take over from then on. All of the girls and some of the guys were quite upset. For me, it only added to that feeling of finality.

That night, Mother cooked me my favorite meal. Sasori and Kira decided to stay at their house that night, so it was just Mother, Akiko, Maria, and me. After she finished serving the meal, instead of jumping right into dishes, mom sat down and pulled out some forms.

“What’s that?” I asked as I ate strips of steak meat.

“These are divorce papers.” Mother explained while still looking through them. “Your father will be coming home tomorrow night, so I figured it’s best to get this out of the way.”

“Mother is finally going to do it?” Maria asked with interest, not sounding even remotely upset that her mother will be leaving her father.

Of course, she felt the same way as me. Dad had always been a cold and distant man. Other than for when our minds were altered, Dad had never cared much about us. I had always wondered why he stuck around, but it was likely because of Grandfather, who had run the shrine that mom had been a shrine maiden at. He had died before I was born, but he probably made dad promise to not leave mom and to take care of us children. Even though he had provided money, that was about his only involvement in raising either of us. If he disappeared and never returned, neither of us would feel moved.

“Yes, I got some advice from Sasori. The judge just approved her divorce officially today. It only took her two months because of her husband being in jail. This also ended the investigation on Sasori. Her daughter and she are taking some private time today to celebrate that. They invited us, but considering tomorrow, I thought it best if you focused on your stuff.”

“Ah… that’s true…” I accepted mom’s reasoning. “So, divorcing dad will take about two months?”

“Regrettably, my divorce isn’t so simple. Since there is no clear reason to end things with my husband, it makes things difficult. By law, we must attempt remediation. It might take another year before I’m able to leave him. At the least, I can expel him from the household tomorrow. Still, if this had been before the Westernization, I don’t think I would have been able to leave him at all.”

I blinked. “Is that a compliment about Westerners?”

She shot me a look. “I’m not saying I accept all westerners, but there are a few things they’ve done that are advantageous.”

I chuckled. “I see… then, I’ll remember that when I bring my American girlfriend’s home.”

“An American!” She shot up, her brow furrowing. “Who is she? What woman? She better not be a slut!”

Not be a slut? That’s rich coming from my mother! I didn’t say that though. I denied anything, even after she pressed me, and once I finished my meal, I retreated to my bedroom without confirming or denying the presence of a western girl in my life. Of course, I had tasted a few Western girls at the All girl’s academy, but I decided not to mention that. It’d only give mom stress.

That night, I slept in my bed alone. I supposed you can say it was something like storing up my yang. I wanted to make sure I was full of virality. The thing was, I didn’t know how this war was going to go. Was he going to try to seduce my women while I seduced his? Was it a literal fight to the death? I didn’t have the answer.

I hadn’t even closed my eyes for a few moments before I opened an eye. “I can’t see you, but I know you’re there.”

“Hmph… so you can detect when a goddess is in your room.” NTR appeared like she always did.

She had similarities to Netori, but she had just as many differences. She floated like Netori, but she had a much stiffer approach, always moving around vertically. Netori liked to move around like a stretching cat, lazing through the air with a feeling of ease. Overall, NTR just seemed like a more serious person. She was a higher-level god, so I guess it made sense that she was on a different level emotionally too. At least, she had a complete body and mind, as opposed to the shattered sisters.

“So, what is it that you want? Do you want to go through the points one more time?”

“No, that’s not it.” She shook her head. “I just… felt like talking.”

“I see…”

“Hakaru! We haven’t talked all too much since this all started! Since you’re to be my husband and lover in the future, I feel like we should know each other better.”

“What about Mary?’

“Hmph! I’m glad if I piss off that wench! If we didn’t need her to help you reach godhood, I wouldn’t even be in the same realm as her! Rather, I want to know more about you.”

“Don’t you have all the memories of the three sisters.”

“Hmph… even if you say that… you didn’t always treat all three sisters the same, and you changed as well! You’ve come a long way from that boy who tried to kill himself!”

“That’s true… I’ve become a much better lover!” I laughed, reaching out to grab her.

She moved in a fashion similar to Netori, skillfully slipping out of my grasp. “Naughty Hakaru, can’t you wait?”

“Didn’t you say you’re happy to piss Mary off?’

“This isn’t about Mary!” She blushed. “It’s just… it’ll be my first time since regaining my full form. It’s… like my virginity.”

I laughed. “Hasn’t that vessel of yours had sex with me countless times?”

Although it was with her spiritual body or conjured illusions, she always framed it off this body, so I was beyond familiar with it.

“So, you recognize this body, even though I changed the appearance so…”

“It was always clear to me you were using Netori’s vessel,” I said. “I recognize the smell.”

All goddesses needed a vessel to appear to mortals. However, they didn’t need to appear as their vessel. Netori had picked a vessel that had similarities with her real appearance. Netorare had taken a different body, Tiana’s body, but then made it look like Netori, which might have had something to do with her inferiority complex. Then there was Netorase, who used Kira as her vessel and shared her consciously rather than possessed.

The goddess needed a mortal body to remain in this world, and her sister Netorase had been prone to using illusions to manipulate her appearance. NTR had first come to me in Netori’s body, so it stood to reason that she was still in that body, even though her appearance had changed.

I still didn’t know who she was. I had looked her up, but Netori had already once explained that while being used as a vessel, she was wiped from existence. No one missed her and it was as if she didn’t exist. Only once a god relinquished their body, which was the equivalent of abandoning the mortal realm and going to heaven permanently, would their bodies return to them.

Sometimes, this only took a few days, other times it took decades. When the person was returned, they didn’t age a day and gained many benefits from the god or goddess. They also changed reality around them, so even if they lost a decade of their lives, they’d still end up fine. They wouldn’t find themselves without parents or in a world they didn’t recognize. All of this was resolved, even if birth certificates and entire family histories had to be rewritten to accommodate.

“Even though this body has had sex, and even though NTR and all three of the parts had sex, I’ve been remade, understand? So, the current me could be considered a virgin!”

“Okay! Okay! I get it.” I laughed as she cutely tried to stress the importance of our first time.

“Hakaru… good luck tomorrow.” She reached out and gently touched my cheek.

“You’re saying that like you won’t be there?”

“Mary and I flipped a coin on who was going to tell you this. That slut has all the luck.” NTR pursed her lips.

“So, you both won’t be there?”

“We’ll be watching, and making sure the game is played fair, but we can’t interfere. That was the unspoken part of our agreement with Depravity. It’s a competition between you and War.”

“But It’s War and Derek! I’m Hakaru and Netori! If I don’t have my goddess…”

She smiled sadly. “She’s gone, and if I helped, it wouldn’t be fair. This is why they were willing to agree to these terms. War thinks he has the upper hand, otherwise, he wouldn’t be betting everything on this. We believe in you, Hakaru. We all do.”

“What should I do?”

“Win, Hakaru… win, and claim your prize.”

“My prize?”

Her sad smile turned shy. “Me.”