The girls insist that they follow me to the Ueyama Group’s HQ even though I told them that I’m going alone. I relent in the end. And so, everyone minus Assaf-sensei is here with me.

When we got there, we are brought to the hall I that I first met Ueyama-san a few days back. He was waiting for us at the end of the hall while wearing the same clothes. I start to think that’s the only set of clothing that he has.

Kaoru is sitting in front of him, her expression full of questions for my request of wanting to speak with her father.

We sit down in front of him. He already gave me permission to sit cross-legged, so that’s what I do once again. The girls are the only ones who’re sitting in a proper way.

‘Welcome, all of you.’ Ueyama-san says to us. ‘Kaoru told me that you wish to speak with me, Kagenashi-dono.’

Just as I was about to ask Kaoru to leave, Sakuya speaks up.

‘Before that, may we have a tour around here with Kaoru-kun as the guide? I would like one very much.’

The rest of my girlfriends nodded enthusiastically. So that’s why they wanted to come along. They want to distract Kaoru.

‘Well, if you insist. Kaoru, do as she says.’

‘Yes, father.’ Kaoru nods obediently.

I wait patiently for them to leave before I start talking.

‘Ueyama-san, before I start, I would like to apologize in advance, as what I’m about to say will probably offend you deeply.’ I say while bowing deeply.

‘Come now, Kagenashi-dono! Why are you being such a stranger when you have done us such a huge favour? You may speak your mind honestly without fearing for repercussions.’

‘Thank you. I shall do so then.’

I take a deep breath before saying the next sentence.

‘Kaoru is actually a girl, isn’t she?’

Ueyama-san immediately stiffens up, his entire demeanour changes from friendly to hostile.

‘I found out about it when she told me that she was having symptoms of period this morning. Please rest assured, I’ve only told my companions that you saw just now, and I can guarantee you that we will keep it a secret at all costs should you demand it. Also, I have no intention of ever telling Kaoru the truth without your permission. I think you’re the one who should do it.’

I pause to give him a chance to say something. Since he didn’t take it and remain silent, I continue on.

‘One of my companions took the liberty of finding out the reason you raise Kaoru as a son. I’m sorry to say that you’re making a terrible mistake. Treating your daughter like a son while hiding the fact that she’s a girl, it’s just wrong.’

I pause again. Ueyama-san still isn’t saying anything.

‘As I said just now, Kaoru was having her period this morning. She was suffering without knowing why, since she doesn’t even know what period is. She looked like she was in a lot of pain.’

I deliberately stressed out the last part. Thankfully, it worked. Ueyama-san has a troubled look on his face now.

‘Ueyama-san, I’m not lecturing you on how to raise your daughter. However, do remember that Kaoru is a girl, not a boy. Hiding her gender from her will only bring her harm.’

Ueyama-san took his time to think over what I said.

‘...Please leave me alone for a while.’

I get up and bow to him. ‘As you wish.’

I didn’t mention his wife. I figure that doing so is a very,very bad move.

I leave the hall and look for Kaoru and the girls. One of the yakuzas on guard duty tells me that they all went to Kaoru’s room. I ask for the direction and head there.

When I got to the front door, I hear Sakuya’s voice from inside.

‘...can be very mean at times, but he’s actually a very nice boy.’ I hear her says.

‘Yes, I agree.’ it’s Kaoru’s voice this time. ‘ Back when we were inside the crypt, aniki was the sole reason I didn’t succumb to fear and did exactly what those knights wanted me to. That’s why I’m always grateful to him. And I admire him very much.’

‘Are you sure it’s just a feeling of admiration?’

‘Whatever do you mean, Morifuji-san?’

‘It could be something else, like say-’

I knock on the door.

‘Yes?’ Kaoru’s voice asks.

‘It’s me.’ I say.

‘Oh. Please wait a moment.’

After a few seconds, Kaoru opens the door and lets me go inside her room.

Her room is the typical Japanese style room with tatami mats and paper doors. There’s only a bookshelf, a mirror, a study table and a chair. I take it that everything else is behind one of the paper doors.

Everyone is sitting on a cushion with a glass of drink next to them. There’s an empty space between Sakuya and Madoka, so I sit down there.

‘I’ll go get you a cushion and a drink.’ Kaoru says while standing in front of the door.

I try to stop her. ‘There’s no need for that, Kaoru.’

‘No, I insist! You’re a guest, after all.’

And so, Kaoru leaves her room in search of a drink and a cushion. In the meantime, I have a talk with Sakuya.

‘Senpai, I happened to overhear the last part of the conversation you had with Kaoru. What were you about to say to him?’

‘Oh, that. Maybe his feeling of admiration is actually a feeling of love in disguise.’

‘...Is it?’

‘You probably never noticed, but I did. The expression Kaoru-kun makes when he’s looking at you sometimes is definitely one that belongs to a maiden in love. I would know, since I’ve already seen the same expression a few times now.’

She looks at the others with a knowing smile. They respond by looking at the floor while blushing.

‘Huh.’

‘I’m pretty sure that either he’s oblivious to his own feelings, or he’s just holding back in since he thinks he’s a boy. ’

‘And you’re probably the same, Akira-kun.’ Yui adds.

‘I am?’

I think about what she had said and found that she’s right. I mean, I’ve always thought that Kaoru is cute, but I’ve been controlling myself since I thought Kaoru is a guy. Now that I know Kaoru is was a girl all along, the situation’s different.

‘Well, we should discuss this again when his problem’s solved.’ I say.

Sakuya agrees. ‘True. No point talking about it when the person in question doesn’t know his situation.’

In case you’re wondering, Kaoru might overhear us talking about her, which is why we’re still referring her as he. As I told Ueyama-san, he’s the one to decide whether or not to tell her the truth.

Kaoru came back after a few minutes. She’s holding a glass of tea at one hand and a cushion with the other.

‘I’m sorry everyone, but my father is calling you.’ she says to us.

Well, I guess this is it. The moment of truth.

‘Alright. We’ll head there right away.’

‘Sorry about this, aniki. Just when I got you these…’

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

‘It’s fine.’

I take the glass from her and drink the tea. I then put the glass on the floor, while Kaoru does the same with the cushion in her hand.

We got back to the hall and found Ueyama-san to be deep in thought. We sit down in front of him quietly and wait for him to speak. Eventually that’s what he does.

‘Kaoru, listen to me carefully. You’re actually a woman since you were born.’ Ueyama-san says to her.

Ah. So he decided to tell her the truth, after all.

Kaoru looks absolutely dumbfounded. She’s so surprised that she has trouble speaking.

‘All this while, I’ve told you that you were a man, and raised you as one. I have also expressly forbid my men from telling you the truth.’

Kaoru slowly opens her mouth and speaks.

‘...Why?’

‘As I said, I was foolish. Being the leader of a yakuza gang, I’ve always wanted a heir to inherit my legacy. A male heir. When your mother gave birth to you, I was devastated. But then, I reached to a conclusion that I could just raise you like how I would raise a son while keeping the truth from you. Your mother was extremely against it. In a fit of rage, I told her that if she doesn’t agree with me, she could just leave. And that’s what she did. We haven’t been seeing each other since then.’

Tears start to form at Kaoru’s eyes, and they’re slowly dripping down to the floor.

‘I know no amount of apology will reimburse the lie I’ve told you all these years. Nevertheless, allow me to say this. I apologize.’

Ueyama-san does a dogeza. He gets back up after a few seconds.

‘But, why did you suddenly changed your mind and tell me?’ Kaoru asks.

‘Well, Kagenashi-dono had a talk with me. He told me that I shouldn’t hide it from you since it would just hurt you. At that point, I start to realize that I had been a cruel father to you.’

Kaoru looks at me with wide eyes.

‘Sorry, Kaoru. I found out that you’re a girl this morning after you told us that you were having symptoms of period. That’s why I told Ichika to you verified.’

‘We did not told you immediately since there might be some circumstances that we do not know of. We swear, we came right over once we found out that there was none.’ Ichika adds.

Kaoru shakes her head.

‘It’s fine, aniki and Kurogane-senpai. The two of you have nothing to apologize for.’

She wipes away her tears with her sleeve. She then slowly turns and looks at her father.

‘Father, if you want my forgiveness, convince mother to come back. I don’t mind how long it would take, please do your best and get back our family.’

‘...If that is what you wish.’

Ueyama-san reaches into the sleeve of his hakama and pulls out a phone.

‘I just hope her phone number is still the same.’ he mumbles.

He then taps at the screen a few times. After that, he puts the phone close to his ear. I hear the sound of phones being connected after a few seconds. Ueyama-san has the look of someone who’s both nervous and relieved.

‘Kasumi? It’s me.’ he begins.

‘...No, I didn’t call you because I’m about to die.’

‘...Well, I was hoping that you would,’ he gulps nervously before continuing. ‘you would come back to us.’

The muttering at the phone suddenly becomes much louder. Ueyama-san patiently waits until she’s done raging.

‘The thing is, I’ve just told Kaoru the truth, and I have decided to raise her as a daughter from now on.’

More muttering, but the volume of her tone is normal once more.

‘...Again, I’m not dying. Will you stop asking me that?’

‘...I’m not asking you to forgive me. You never have to. It’s just, our daughter needs a mother. She’s already spent her childhood without her mother at her side, so I want you around for her when she’s about to become an adult. Please, do it for her.’

‘...You want what? You do realize those things have an expiry date, right?’

‘...Very well. I’ll come get you once I have them ready. Yes, with our daughter, of course. Is your address still the same? That’s good to hear. See you soon.’

He puts his phone back inside the sleeve. ‘It is done.’

‘What did mother demanded from you, father?’ Kaoru asks curiously.

Ueyama-san sighs in exasperation. ‘She wants 100 boxes of onsen manjuu.’

‘That’s, a lot.’

‘Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll have some of my men to buy them up. In the meantime, entertain our guests.’

‘Yes, father.’

And so, we’re back at Kaoru’s room. Unfortunately, we could not stay for long, since it’s almost time for us to head for the Yamagata’s mansion. Kaoru looks disappointed that we could not stay for dinner, so I assure her that we’ll come back soon.

She sees us off at the gate.

‘I’m really thankful for your help this time, aniki.’ she says. ‘Um, is it okay if I still call you aniki?’

‘Of course you can.’

She then starts to fidget while looking at me. Sakuya’s right. She does have an expression of a maiden in love.

‘Is something the matter, Kaoru?’ I ask her.

‘Well, now that I know I’m a girl, I have a lot of things to tell you, aniki. But, could you wait for a little while longer? I need to gather up my thoughts and courage for a bit first.’

‘Uh, sure.’

And on that note, the rest of us leave the HQ, with Kaoru waving her hand at us and smiling all the while.

On our way to the Yamagata’s mansion, Sakuya walks beside me.

‘Well, aren’t you glad, Akira-kun? You’ll have another girlfriend soon.’

‘Are all of you really fine with it?’ I ask just to be sure.

‘Why not? Kaoru-chan is a nice girl. More importantly, she’s in love with you, and you her, right?’

‘I guess…’

‘That said, you might need to renovate the counter in front of your kitchen soon, Akira.’ Ichika tells me. ‘If this keeps up, you will not have enough seats.’

‘We’ll see. It probably won’t come to that.’

All the girls are looking at me with a ‘seriously?’ look on their face.

‘...What is it? Why are all of you looking at me like that?’

‘Akira-kun, you don’t really know your own charm point, do you?’ Yui asks.

‘Well, I have 6 girlfriends, so I kind of do.’

‘7 if we count Ueyama.’ Madoka points out.

‘Can we even put Kaoru in the count?’

‘Why not?’

‘Cause she might be against to being part of a harem?’

‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, Akira-kun. She already knows that all of us are going out with you at the same time.’ Sakuya tells me.

I stare at her in shock.

‘...What?’

‘She guessed it from the way from the way we were acting with each other. Even though she wasn’t raised as a girl, she sure has the intuition of one.’

Great. Now there’s another person who found out about our relationship. I’m just glad that she herself is a potential harem member.

‘And how did she react to it?’

‘Positively. She doesn’t mind polygamy relationship one bit. Therefore, it’s safe to say that she’s willing to join in.’

‘Is that so? That’s kind of surprising.’

Just as we’re done with the topic, we reach the mansion. Assaf-sensei is already waiting in front of the gate.

‘Sorry for making you wait for us, sensei.’ I tell her.

‘It’s fine. Has everything been solved on Ueyama-san’s end?’

‘Pretty much.’

‘That’s good to hear.’

Now that everyone is here, I ring the doorbell. Once again, it’s Tagawa-san who opens the gate.

‘Hello again, Tagawa-san.’ I start by greeting her.

‘Hello to you too. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Are these your friends?’ she addresses my girlfriends.

She then notices Assaf-sensei.

‘Yes, (girl)friends and teacher.’

‘Oh my, even a teacher?’ she bows deeply at Assaf-sensei. ‘Thank you for coming all the way here.’

Assaf-sensei bows back. ‘And we thank you for having us tonight.’

After the pleasantries are exchanged, Tagawa-san brings us inside. However, we’re not heading towards the mansion.

‘I’m very sorry to inform you that sir and madam don’t allow you to step foot inside the mansion before, during and after the party unless there’s an incident. They wouldn’t want the guests to think that something is amiss by having all of you around. You’ll have to standby inside a summerhouse until then.’

‘We understand.’

We’re guided to a big summerhouse that could easily house a family of 7. There’s air-conditioner, a large double-door fridge that even rivals mine, an expensive-looking table and chairs that are definitely imported. Directly outside the summerhouse is a large pond full of beautiful carps.

Once, I’ve watched an interview session featuring father Yamagata. He claimed that his family has a total of 6 villas around the world. And they still bothered to build a summerhouse near their mansion. I’ll never understand what the rich is thinking.

‘Please make yourselves at home. Dinner will be served shortly. Do any of you have any allergies or restrictions from your religion?’ Tagawa-san asks once we settled down.

None of us have anything she mentioned. Before she leaves, I hand her a communication device in the shape of a tiny paperclip.

‘Please hand this to Amaya-san. She can just speaks to it if something happens.’

I didn’t bother getting more for her parents. They would definitely refuse to wear it. On our end, we have wireless earpieces that we put inside our ear.

‘I’ll make sure to hand it to her. Is there anything that you require?’

‘Yes. I would like a copy of the guest list. Also, the resume of each and every employees inside the household, even the temporary ones.’

Tagawa-san nods. ‘I’ll get them for you as quickly as possible.’

She soon comes back with the things I requested. Madoka looks through them at once. After a while, she points at 4 names among the guest list.

‘These 4 are important staffs of the Ryuuouji Bio Lab. One of them is the personal assistant of Ryuuouji Tatsuma himself.’

‘Well, now we know who to spy on.’ I say.

I brought some tiny spider drones for reconnaissance purpose just in case. Looks like they would be useful soon.

She looks at the resumes next. There are no one who’s suspicious.

The party will be starting in an hour. In the meantime, we’re served dinner. Tagawa-san and 2 other housekeepers push the trolleys that are full of food inside the summerhouse and serve them to us.

There are roast beef, raw salmon salad, cheesecake and all kinds of delicious and expensive looking food, even foie gras. I stare at them in surprise.

‘Ojou-sama had them cooked for you in secret.’ Tagawa-san informs me after seeing my shocked face.

‘Ah. That would explains it.’

Yup. There’s no way her parents would allow peasants such as ourselves to enjoy an extravagant meal such as this.

We start to eat. The housekeepers are waiting patiently for us to finish eating so that they could retrieve the plates when we’re done.

The food were as delicious as they look. I grudgingly admit that whoever that cooked this is much more skilled than I am.

‘My compliments to the chefs.’ I say to Tagawa-san between mouthfuls of roasted potato.

She smiles at me. ‘I’ll be sure to let Ishido-san know that you complimented on his cooking.’

So it was Ishido-san who cooked all these. I guess your skill does improve after decades of experience and practise.

After we filled our belly, the housekeepers left with the now-empty plates and the trolleys.

‘I wonder whether we could sneak in and dance.’ Assaf-sensei wonders out loud.

‘Don’t count on it, sensei. There’s no way they would let you in.’ I tell her.

‘A shame.’

‘We could have our own party at school. Like a prom.’ Sakuya suggests.

That reminds me. The Academy never had an event like this. I’ve always wondered the reason, and I ask Sakuya of it.

‘Well, we’re dedicating our student lives on the sole purpose of serving the society. We can’t be walking around and having fun at social parties and stuff, now could we?’

‘But having club activities and afternoon teas at cafe is fine?’

‘We’re talking about an event that the entire school can enjoy together, Akira-kun.’

‘Well that’s not fair. Why can’t we have fun every once in a while? We’re students too!’

Sakuya chuckles. ‘You know, you sound a lot like Natsuho-chan.’

I blink. ‘You mean the student council president of the Kyoto Branch?’

‘Yup, her. The Kyoto Branch was literally a boot camp just to train students to fight before she enrolled. When she was a first year, she fought hard for the students’ rights enjoy the school life they deserve. She prevailed in the end, which is how she managed to become the student council president despite being a first year.’

Wow. They totally omitted this part of her backstory in the original anime.

Sakuya chuckles again. ‘I can’t wait for the two of you to meet. I’m pretty sure it would be entertaining.’

I groan loudly. ‘Let’s just hope that she’ll be too busy to care about my existence.’

While making small talks like this, we patiently wait for the party to begin.