I Accidentally Built a Harem of Girls Who All Hate Each Other

The walk to the Student Council office was the longest ten-second journey of my life. Every step felt like I was wading through molasses, the air thick with the unspoken tension radiating from Yui behind me and the silent, imperious command from Reina ahead. I was the rope in a tug-of-war between two forces of nature, and I could feel my sanity fraying with every heartbeat.

I didn't dare look back at Yui. I could feel her stare on my back, a physical weight that was a thousand times heavier than my schoolbag. It was a stare that said, 'We will be having a very long, very detailed talk about this later.' A shiver traced its way down my spine.

Reina didn't wait. The moment I was within five feet of the classroom door, she turned and began walking down the hall, her posture ramrod straight, expecting me to follow like a well-trained puppy. Which, given the circumstances, I suppose I was.

"Kujou-san, wait!" I managed to squeak out, half-jogging to catch up. "Can't we just talk about this? There's got to be another way!"

She didn't slow down. "The time for talk is over, Tanaka-kun. Now is the time for supervision. And silence."

We turned a corner, and there it was. A set of imposing, dark wood double doors with a polished brass plaque that read: STUDENT COUNCIL OFFICE. It looked less like a room for a high school club and more like the entrance to a corporate boardroom where dreams went to die.

Reina slid a key into the lock and pushed the door open, gesturing for me to enter with a flick of her head. I took a deep breath, the kind you take before a deep-sea dive or a visit to the dentist, and stepped across the threshold.

The room was... intimidating.

Sunlight streamed through a massive bay window that overlooked the school's perfectly manicured gardens. The floors were polished hardwood, a stark contrast to the scuffed linoleum of the classrooms. In the center of the room sat a massive, dark mahogany table surrounded by plush leather chairs. Bookcases filled with impressive-looking tomes lined one wall. It was a room that hummed with quiet power and smelled faintly of lemon polish and old paper.

"Sit," Reina commanded, pointing to one of the chairs at the far end of the table. She, meanwhile, took her throne at the head of the table, placing her bag down with a soft, definitive thud.

I shuffled over and sat down, my own worn canvas bag looking pitifully out of place in this palace of scholastic authority. The leather of the chair sighed under my weight. The silence was deafening. I fidgeted, my hands feeling clammy.

"So... what am I supposed to do?" I asked, breaking the quiet. "Am I... sorting papers? Making coffee?"

Reina looked up from the stack of files she had just produced from her bag, an eyebrow arched in amusement. "You seem to have a misunderstanding, Tanaka-kun. You are not here to work. You are not a member. You are here to be observed. You will sit there, do your homework, and not be a threat. That is your sole function."

My jaw hung open. "That's it? I just... sit here?"

"Precisely," she said, her focus already returning to her paperwork. "Consider this room your cage. A very comfortable cage, I'll admit, but a cage nonetheless. Now be quiet. I have work to do."

And so began the most surreal period of detention in human history. I sat there, in a ridiculously expensive chair, under the watchful eye of the school's most beautiful and terrifying student, doing absolutely nothing. I tried to pull out my math homework, but the numbers just swam in front of my eyes. My brain was too busy replaying the scene in the alley, the look on Yui's face, the impending sense of doom.

The silence stretched on. Ten minutes. Twenty. The only sounds were the scratching of Reina's fountain pen on paper and the frantic thumping of my own heart. The sunlight streaming through the window began to shift, casting long shadows across the room.

My gaze drifted, inevitably, to Reina.

She was completely absorbed in her work. Her long, black hair fell over one shoulder, shimmering like silk in the afternoon light. A small, focused frown creased her brow. The sunlight caught the curve of her cheek, the line of her jaw. Stripped of her public armor, her Ice Queen persona, she was just... a girl. A stunningly beautiful, incredibly intimidating, cat-fearing girl concentrating on her work.

And it was in that unguarded moment that my treacherous brain decided to be helpful.

"You know," I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. "If you tuck your elbow in a little closer to your side when you write, you'll get less strain on your wrist. It'll help prevent fatigue."

Reina's pen stopped scratching.

Slowly, she lifted her head. Her expression was one of pure, unadulterated shock, as if a piece of furniture had just offered her ergonomic advice.

"What did you just say?" she asked, her voice dangerously quiet.

I froze, realizing my mistake. 'Rule one: Stay invisible. Rule two: Do NOT, under any circumstances, speak unless spoken to! You idiot, Kaito!'

"N-nothing!" I stammered, my face heating up. "Sorry. I was just... observing. Like you said. My dad's an architect, he's always going on about posture and repetitive strain injuries. It just... came out. I'll shut up now. Promise." I mimed zipping my lips and throwing away the key.

Reina stared at me, her mouth slightly agape. Then, she glanced down at her hand, at the way she was holding her pen. Hesitantly, almost self-consciously, she adjusted her posture, tucking her elbow in slightly. She made a few practice strokes on a scrap piece of paper.

A look of faint surprise crossed her features.

"Hmph," was all she said, before pointedly turning her attention back to her files. But I saw it. I saw the a flicker of something new in her eyes. It wasn't annoyance. It wasn't anger. It was… consideration. I had offered her something useful, something logical. I had treated her not as an Ice Queen or an idol, but as a person doing a task. And it had, somehow, broken through her defenses in a way I never intended.

This fragile, unexpected truce was shattered by a knock at the door.

My blood ran cold. 'Please don't be Yui. Please don't be Yui.'

"Enter," Reina called out, her voice back to its usual crisp, professional tone.

The door swung open, and my heart plummeted into my stomach. It wasn't Yui. It was, somehow, so much worse.

Standing in the doorway, holding a stack of papers and looking impossibly athletic even in her teacher's tracksuit, was Ms. Emi Sato. The Demon P.E. Instructor.

Her sharp eyes scanned the room, landing first on Reina, then on me. A frown immediately formed on her face.

"Kujou," she said, her voice sharp and no-nonsense. "I have the budget proposal for the new track equipment. And Tanaka? What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've landed yourself in trouble on the first week."

"Ms. Sato," Reina greeted her coolly, standing up to take the papers. "Tanaka-kun is... assisting me with a special project."

It was a brilliant lie, delivered with flawless poise. It was also a lie that immediately put me in the crosshairs of Ms. Sato's suspicion.

"A special project?" Ms. Sato repeated, her eyes narrowing as she looked me up and down. "He doesn't look like Student Council material. He looks like he'd get winded carrying a textbook."

"Hey!" I protested weakly.

As Reina took the folder, her hand brushed against Ms. Sato's. At the same time, Ms. Sato took a step further into the room to speak to Reina more privately. She didn't see my schoolbag, which I had foolishly left on the floor by my chair.

Her foot caught the strap.

Time slowed down again. Ms. Sato let out a surprised yelp, her athletic grace failing her for the first time in recorded history. She stumbled forward, arms flailing.

My kindness-curse activated. I shot up from my chair, my arms reaching out instinctively to catch her.

What happened next was a catastrophic ballet of poor physics and terrible luck.

Ms. Sato fell towards me. I caught her, but my momentum carried us both backward. Reina, who was right next to us, was knocked off balance by the stumbling teacher. She let out a small, un-queenly shriek and fell with us.

We landed in a heap. A tangled, ridiculously compromising heap.

I was at the bottom, my back pressed against the plush carpet. Ms. Sato had landed half on top of me, her face buried in my shoulder, her surprisingly soft ponytail tickling my nose. The sharp, clean scent of sports soap filled my senses.

And Reina? Reina Kujou, the untouchable school idol, had landed directly on top of my legs, her skirt hiked up to a scandalous height, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of her thigh-high stockings and the smooth skin above them. She was sprawled across me and Ms. Sato, her silky black hair fanned out across my chest.

For a moment, there was only stunned silence, punctuated by the sound of our ragged breathing.

My brain was a blue screen of death. I was pinned under my P.E. teacher and the Student Council President in the most ridiculously ecchi scenario imaginable.

Then, the door to the Student Council office, which Ms. Sato had left ajar, swung fully open.

Standing in the doorway, her face a perfect, smiling mask of homicidal rage, holding a bento box as if it were a murder weapon, was Yui Hamasaki.

"...Kaito?" she said, her voice impossibly, terrifyingly sweet. "Am I... interrupting something?"