The room went so quiet you could hear the magical alpaca's tiny, melodic breathing. Maki's grip on Hime tightened instinctively, and Umi's hand, which had been resting at her side, slowly curled into a fist that looked capable of shattering a brick.
Agung, caught in the momentum of his own "Otaku Logic," didn't seem to notice the temperature in the room dropping below freezing.
"Wait, wait," Nico interrupted, her voice dangerously high-pitched. "Let me get this straight. You're standing in front of your six wives—who have raised your children and kept your secrets for three years—and you're telling us that if you could hit the 'Reset' button, you'd just... trim the herd?"
"I'm being honest!" Agung protested, his 35-year-old brain still thinking like a man who just read a harem manga. "Six is a lot of management! In 2013, I'd be 20 again! I'd have the quadrillion dollars and the magic from the start! I could be the 'Perfect Producer.' I'd pick Maki-chan first, of course, because... well, look at her! And Kotori-chan is the healing type. Then maybe Eli or Nozomi for the 'Mature' aura. It's about efficiency!"
WHACK.
The reflex hammer didn't hit his knee this time. Maki had reached out and flicked him squarely on the forehead with a force that made his vision swim.
"Efficiency?" Maki hissed, her face turning a shade of red that made her hair look pale. "You're talking about us like we're units in a gacha game! You think you can just 're-roll' your life and pick the 'best girls' to suit your 20-year-old fantasies?"
Eli stepped forward, her blue eyes icy. "So, in this 'perfect 2013,' what happens to the Umi you didn't choose? What happens to the Nico who worked her heart out? And most importantly..." She pointed to the little girl in Maki's arms. "What happens to Hime? If you only marry 'two or three' of us, this child—the one holding the toy you just made—ceases to exist. Is that your 'Hero's Journey,' Agung?"
Agung blanched. The "20-year-old dream" suddenly felt like a nightmare. He looked at Hime, who was tilting her head, confused by the word "exist."
"I... I didn't mean it like that!" Agung stammered. "I just meant... I wanted to do it right! Without the 'Deadbeat' part!"
Nozomi walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her touch wasn't heavy this time, but her eyes were filled with a terrifyingly ancient wisdom. "Agung-kun, you are a 35-year-old man who has lived 24 years through stories. You think the 'Happy Ending' is a choice you make at the beginning. But the 'Maki' standing here isn't the 2013 idol. She's the woman who survived you."
She leaned in closer, her voice a low purr. "The Operator promised you a reset. But life isn't a manga where you can just start a new route. If you go back to 2013 and choose only three of us, you aren't 'fixing' anything. You're just murdering the memories of the six women who are currently deciding whether to feed you dinner or throw you off the balcony."
Umi stepped into his personal space, her aura so intense it felt like a physical weight. "Choose carefully, Street Sweeper. Do you want the 20-year-old dream where you play God with our lives? Or do you want to stay in 2026, keep your 'squishy cheeks,' and earn the right to be called 'Papa' by the child you just met?"
Agung looked at the six of them. He looked at his black card. He looked at the tiny, living alpaca. The "Otaku" in him wanted the 2013 reset. But the "Man" who had swept the streets of Pekalongan saw the six women in front of him not as icons, but as his only chance at a real family.