After Reaching the Happy Ending, I Was Locked up by the Extremely Possessive Heroines I Had Conquered

Chapter 6: I Got Locked Up by the Heroines

Looking back, it’s kind of my fault—or rather, it’s entirely the seeds I sowed. Those seeds sprouted, and they sprouted so much that vines got tangled up, and those tangled vines ended up getting me locked up…

“Akira’s the bad one.”

“Big brother, you’re the one at fault.”

“Senpai, you’re really a bad person, aren’t you?”

In a storage shed next to the Black Tide Shrine, the air was dim, dusty, and stale, with only the light streaming through the window illuminating the surroundings.

In the center of this creepy shed—on a simple mattress—lay a poor boy, his hands bound and tied up.

That boy, of course, was me.

A few minutes after being interrogated by the three girls at the ferry terminal, I was half-forced into this shed. In no time, they tied my wrists with rope and laid me down on the bed.

Isn’t this, like, imprisonment?

I wanted to protest, but the atmosphere wasn’t exactly one where I could speak up.

Three heroines stared down at me with eyes that had lost their spark.

—Satori Jindaiji.

—Mahiru Akiyoshi.

—Toa Watarase.

Their gazes were so sharp they could pierce my heart. Despite the chilling sensation creeping up my spine, I desperately tried to explain myself.

“Come on, did I really do anything *that* bad? I just tried to leave the island for a bit. I fully planned to come back. Honestly, I was just going to dip out for a second. Just the tip.”

The moment I spoke, Mahiru crushed the ticket in her hand. The dull crumple echoed through the small shed.

“Big brother, you said, didn’t you? ‘I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay by your side forever.’”

“…I said that.”

“You also said, ‘I won’t let go of your hand. If I lie, you can bury me in the ground.’”

“…I said that.”

Did I say it or not? I definitely said it. No way to talk my way out of that one—I said it loud and proud.

“I demand an explanation. Depending on what you say, we might just bury you…”

“N-no, anything but that…”

Shivering under Mahiru’s cold stare for the first time in a while, Toa leaned in close to my ear, whispering her accusations.

“Senpai, you said, didn’t you? ‘You’ll always be my senpai.’”

“…I said that.”

“You also promised, ‘I won’t abandon you.’”

“…I promised that.”

Did I promise or not? I definitely promised. No way to dodge it—I promised with full confidence.

“Senpai, please explain. If you don’t, I’ll mess with your ears so you’ll only ever hear *my* voice.”

“N-no, anything but that…”

Whispered those words in my ear? No way I could stay sane. I desperately tilted my body the other way.

But Satori was already there, peering into my face. She raised her kagura bell and jingled it softly.

“Akira, you said, ‘I’ll make picture books with you forever.’”

“…I said that.”

“‘Everything we need is right here.’ Those were your words, weren’t they?”

“Yes. My words.”

Were they my words or not? They were definitely my words. I wasn’t dodging that—they were mine through and through.

“Why did you try to leave the island?”

“There is a deep reason for that…”

“Spit it out. If you don’t, I will erase your memories.”

“N-no, anything but that!”

No way I could bluff my way out of this, so I decided to come clean.

“Look, there’s no game shop on this island, right?”

“What’s not here isn’t here!”

“And obviously, there’s no game development company either, right?”

“What’s not here isn’t here!”

“My dream is to make games someday, but to make that dream come true, I have to leave the island. That’s just how it is.”

“What’s not here isn’t here!”

Satori kept saying it, over and over, with such force. She’s right, of course. I never thought my own words would come back to hit me like a boomerang.

“Take responsibility.”

Satori’s sharp eyes pierced through me.

“Satori-san’s right.”

Mahiru grabbed my head; she forced me to face her.

“Big brother, you need to take responsibility. The responsibility to keep your promise to stay by my side until you die!”

“Mahiru-chan’s right.”

Now Toa snatched my head from Mahiru. She hugged my head tightly, then she squeezed me like she was wrapping me up.

“If you don’t stay my senpai forever, I can’t go on living. I *need* you, senpai.”

Her words were sweet, but they ate away at my heart like poison.

Their gazes, their words, tangled around me like vines, slowly stripping away any chance of escape.

—What did I do wrong?

I fought so hard to save all the heroines and reach a happy ending, but somehow, I ended up with an imprisonment ending.