The Gal Game Heroines Who Were Supposed to Die Somehow Learned My Secret ～By the Way, Where Did My [Diary] Go?～ - SS 2: I Can’t Take It Anymore!

SS 02: I Can’t Take It Anymore!

“Sorry. I need to be alone for a while.”

Dinner had been fun.

Laughter had floated around the table, everyone was happily tucking into their food, and smiles came and went naturally. Then, out of nowhere, I went stone-faced and said that.

Chopsticks stopped moving. The air froze.

Clack—someone set their bowl down.

The annoying buzz of a mosquito suddenly felt unbearably loud.

Over all of it, the clock hands kept ticking—tick, tick—in steady rhythm.

━The silence broke when Satsuki spoke.

“Why… is that?”

Her voice was quiet, but there was no emotion—her pupils were wide and her face was blank in a way that sent chills down my spine. That “dark” look she’d been hiding lately had come back in full force.

And the other three wore the same expression.

Like some kind of infection, the whole room filled with a heavy, oppressive air.

This time, I couldn’t lose.

This wasn’t just about pride — it was about my life.

My eyes stung. I dropped to my knees and bowed deeply.

“…Um… I’m at my limit. Could I please… take a break from the nighttime stuff… for a while…?”

At first, it had felt like a dream.

Sleeping with four beautiful girls every night? It sounded like some kind of joke-level happiness.

━But it hadn’t been just for a few days.

It had been months.

And every single night… they went all out.

Eventually my lower back was wrecked, my whole body ached, and I could barely move.

Every morning I woke up feeling like I’d just finished running a full marathon.

All I wanted was… a simple break.

“Ohhh, is that all?”

At my desperate plea, the four of them relaxed, their expressions softening.

The heavy tension dissolved with a few quiet sighs.

Relieved, their shoulders dropped and the pressure eased.

“In that case, I’ll do the work. Satoshi, you can just lie down and rest.”

Reine suggested it—smiling with more kindness than I’d ever seen before.

“No, no, no—could you not drain me!? I’m seriously running on empty right now!”

“Then I’ll have some snapping turtle, viper, and garlic shipped from my family estate. Of course, only the finest quality approved by the Shinonome household. One night’s sleep and you’ll be fully recovered.”

“I’m literally asking you to let me sleep alone because you keep attacking me while I’m asleep!”

“In that case~

━━━we just won’t let you sleep, right?”

“You monsters!!!”

Shuna said it with a huge grin. I felt a chill run down my spine and accidentally let out a shout.

The dark faces vanished like mist.

If anything, they all looked way too happy.

They’d snapped back to their usual, high-energy selves.

But I couldn’t laugh about it.

After one ridiculous reply after another, something in me finally broke.

“Anyway, I’m sleeping alone tonight! Make sure you all go back to your own rooms—got it!?”

“…A bluff?”

“No, it’s not a bluff!!”

I shoved food into my mouth without saying a word, dumped the dishes in the sink, and brushed my teeth at lightning speed. Then I scrambled up to the loft and dove under the futon.

“Hey, if any of you try to attack me, I’ll seriously get angry, okay!?”

I gave one last warning, turned face-down, buried my face in my pillow, and curled up into a perfect defensive ball—totally off-limits.

Then, like a lump of mud, I let myself fall asleep.

◇

“Satoshi-kun really means it this time~.”

Shuna murmured, gazing lazily up toward the loft.

“…Shall we force him up?”

Shino cracked her knuckles with a dead-serious face. Her tone was calm, but terrifyingly genuine.

I let out a long sigh.

“No, leave him. When Satoshi-kun gets like that, he’s stubborn. More importantly—”

I turned to the side, where Reine sat fidgeting with an anxious expression.

“C-Could it be… that he hates me now…?”

“That’s not it at all~. Reine-chan, relax, okay~?”

Shuna smiled softly and gently stroked Reine’s hair, like an older sister soothing her little sister.

“Leaving Reine-san aside for now… what about you, Satsuki-san?”

Shino’s quiet gaze slid toward me.

“Hmm… let’s see…”

I thought for a moment, then answered right away.

“If we went to him right now, I think he’d still accept us somehow~.”

“Yes. Satoshi-san is very kind.”

Shino’s eyes softened slightly as she said it.

“But, if we actually did that… we’d just be taking advantage of his kindness, wouldn’t we~?”

Shuna’s voice drifted in gently from beside me. Reine’s head rested on her lap as she slowly stroked her hair. Her face wore a smile, but her eyes were serious.

“I’m against doing something Satoshi-kun really hates~…”

“Yeah… you’re right.”

Thinking back, this might’ve been the first time Satoshi-kun ever truly complained. He must’ve really hit his limit.

Remembering that, a little guilt tugged at my chest.

And along with it, a flicker of unease.

Not as bad as Reine, but even just one day without feeling loved by Satoshi-kun… hurt more than I expected.

What if we’d pushed too hard? What if he actually got fed up with us?

If that ever happened, he’d throw us away.

That tiny thorn of fear kept spreading slowly through my chest.

And before I realized it, Shuna and Shino were making the same face.

“Pathetic.”

Reine’s firm voice cut right through the gloom.

“Pull yourselves together. Aren’t you ashamed, being Satoshi’s girlfriends?”

“…”

━You’re the last one who should be saying that.

In that moment, the three of us were perfectly united.

Just earlier, she’d been melting into Shuna’s lap pillow. But now Reine had her arms crossed, smug as ever, looking down on us like she’d been calm and collected all along.

“…Anyway, Reine, why don’t you sleep alone tonight?”

“Eh!? A-Ah, o-of course!”

Her voice cracked, her face twitched, and she broke into a nervous sweat while forcing herself to act tough.

At this point, that clumsy bravado of hers was practically her signature charm.

“Well… maybe this is a good chance. Rest is important, after all.”

Shino murmured quietly.

“True enough. If Satoshi-kun actually collapsed, that would be way worse.”

With a heavy sigh, we finally decided to leave Satoshi-kun’s room.

And then—

“…It’s frustrating, though~.”

“Eh?”

We turned back to see Shuna smiling as she gazed up at the loft. But behind that smile, there was a flicker of heat.

“Think about it~. Do you really believe there’d ever be a time where Satoshi-kun invited us… and we turned him down~?”

“Impossible. Even if my arm broke, even if my heart got ripped out, it wouldn’t matter.”

I agreed with Shino.

No matter what, none of us would ever reject Satoshi-kun.

And because of that, the same thought crept into all our minds.

“…So him not touching us tonight—Isn’t that basically saying our charm has faded?”

“That’s exactly what it means~.”

“…Hmph.”

That was nothing less than infuriating.

A fire of determination lit in our eyes.

Just then, a beetle smacked into the window with a dull thunk, dropped to the ground, and buzzed away.

In the silence that followed, Shino muttered softly.

“…Satoshi-san said this, didn’t he? ‘If you attack me, I’ll seriously get mad!’”

“So basically, as long as we don’t make the first move, it’s fine~?”

“Exactly. If it’s Satoshi who comes to us, then there’s no problem.”

“Then… I guess our plan is set.”

We nodded to one another, quietly and sure.

Soon after, we stood and opened the front door.

The night sky was pitch-black, the moon high and silent.

Just as we were about to head to our rooms, we noticed a black cat curled up at the edge of the stairs. The moment it heard our footsteps, it leapt away and vanished into the darkness—

As if it already knew what was coming.

To think you could make us feel this way…━━━you really are a sinful man.

◇

“Ahhh~!”

The sound slipped out before I even realized I’d woken.

Morning felt refreshing. Soft sunlight filtered through the loft’s small window, and birdsong poured down from the sky.

My body felt light.

My mind felt clear.

I had energy. I had strength.

━━━How amazing is this…!

Stretching on top of the futon, I could feel it in my bones. I’d actually slept last night. Just that alone made me feel unbelievably recharged.

━━━Only thing is—

“…Even so, I might’ve been a little unfair to them, huh…”

Even if it was for survival, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for rejecting all four of them.

It wasn’t like they had bad intentions. If anything, their love was just so overwhelming it made me fear for my life.

At the very least, during this “break period,” I’d do my best to listen to their wishes (…well, anything except the naughty stuff).

“Satoshi-kun~! Time to wake up~!”

“Ah, I’m coming.”

Shuna’s cheerful voice lifted my mood, and before I knew it, my reply came out lively. My body felt light, my steps springy. Being healthy felt amazing!

I happily climbed down the loft ladder—

And froze the instant I saw the living room.

“Good mor—… huh?”

My brain short-circuited.

What I saw was more blinding than the morning sun itself.

“Uhh—”

I instinctively shut my eyes. Maybe it was a hallucination. I rubbed them hard, but nope, the scene didn’t change at all.

“W-What are you doing…?”

The four of them were dressed in outfits way, way too extreme.

“Sorry, Satoshi-kun. We’ve… finally awakened.”

Satsuki smiled sweetly.

She was wearing nothing but a white apron.

Well, technically there was a pale-blue bikini underneath—if you could even call that “clothed.”

As a former gravure idol, her flawless figure was boldly on display. The apron’s fabric pressed deep between her cleavage, wrinkling there, while the blue bikini strings peeked out from her sides, tugging at my gaze no matter how hard I tried to resist.

Her glowing skin, the curve of her waist, the firmness of her legs—every detail was a visual landmine. No matter where I looked, it was a disaster.

Being the gentleman I was, I reflexively turned my eyes away.

“Uh, um… just what exactly is happening here…?”

I slipped into polite speech without meaning to.

“You meant to say this yesterday, right? ‘Lately you girls aren’t even worth me touching. Come back when you’ve turned into women so sexy I can’t resist you.’ That’s it, right?”

“I never said that!!”

How did they manage to twist my words into something so messed up!?

All I wanted was to rest because I was exhausted…!

“But don’t worry. We won’t make the first move.”

“…Hah?”

Honestly, I’d already braced myself for a few forced rounds, so this threw me off.

“You said it yourself, Satoshi-kun~. That you wanted a break.”

Shuna smiled sweetly, though there was a flicker of madness in her eyes.

“Fufu. I would never dare to go against Satoshi-san’s wishes.”

Shino’s elegant smile hid a plotting glint.

“That’s right. We’ll never, ever make the first move.”

Reine declared it with a perfectly composed face.

“O-Oh, I see.”

Ah—right. I remembered the forecast saying today’s high would top thirty-five degrees.

So this was… energy saving.

I get it. I get it now.

If I just crank up the AC, this problem’s solved.

Their outfits had nothing to do with me—they’d simply gone mad from the heat.

Yes. That had to be it.

Man, how pathetic was I!?

Can’t even manage the air conditioning properly—what kind of boyfriend did that make me!?

“But you see—”

Satsuki’s voice dropped, sweet and low.

The air changed. It felt like someone had lit incense in the room—heavy, sensual, filling the space.

I turned in time to see Satsuki slowly lick her lips. Her eyes gleamed with heat, and a shiver ran down my spine.

“If you ever feel like making a move… anytime’s fine, okay?”

“…”

━Right. I’d said it.

“If you attack me, I’ll get mad.”

Which meant their plan was obvious.

They wouldn’t make the first move.

They’d just stay there, radiating impossible levels of sex appeal, waiting patiently until I couldn’t resist anymore.

A silent hunt, executed with perfect calm.

Tempt me, melt my reason, and make me fall of my own will.

I tilted my head back toward the heavens.

━Had I already been checkmated?