(Your POV)
A day at the beach? What is this, a harem book?

All of us guys were on the beach wearing swim trunks that matched our personality, like I have rainbow swim shorts, Ryoma has a black and white striped pair, Gonta's had a bug pattern, Kaito had stars, and so on. All of us were just standing around, waiting for the girls to finish changing. For the record, Angie's always wearing her swimsuit under her yellow cardigan, so don't ask me why she needed time to change. Other than that, Gonta was making me look bad because the dude looked like a heavy weight champion, Ryoma was a close second despite his small size, and Kaito was in third place when it came to muscles. As for me, I was in the same category as Korekiyo, walking noodles.

"So how much are you willing to bet Miu walks out wearing some kind BDSM outfit that Korekiyo would most likely wear?" Kokichi asked out of nowhere as Gonta and I were building a sandcastle.

"Oh please, even Miu isn't that bad...I hope." I commented, praying to Atua that Kirumi protects Tohka, Yuzuru, and Kaguya's innocence, wait why am I praying to Atua?

"I have converted you..." Angie suddenly appeared behind me, making me jump behind Gonta out of reflex. "Fear not (Y/N), Atua is a good god!"

"That's what they all say!" I recalled that's the same thing all cultists say, and I noticed that Angie didn't change her outfit at all. "By the way, where are the others?"

"Over there." Angie pointed her finger at the changing rooms, and there I saw all the girls coming out in their swimsuits, and unlike all harem protagonists, I ALMOST had a nosebleed.

"So why are we at the beach anyways?" Ryoma asked from his spot under the umbrella. "We're on vacation, sure, but is a beach really necessary?"

"Simple, we would like to do some team building exercises." Reine held her clipboard, but one thing I noticed about her gray swimsuit was the fact that her stuffed bear was in between her chest, guess she must really like it.

Say, why does that bear look familiar? It almost looks like a bear I made in the past...a bear that is the sole reason I started painting in the first place?

"We will be playing volleyball." Reine held up a volley ball in her hand. "The teams are Yuzuru, Kaguya, Gonta, Ryoma, Kaede, Angie, and Korekiyo against the rest of us."

"Okay then, let's play." I commented as all of us got onto our respective sides of the court, and for some reason, Korekiyo began drawing in the sand on our side.

Shuichi served the ball, sending it to our side as I ran towards the spot and hit it over to the other side. Tenko somehow jumped into the air wearing a swimsuit that looked more like gym clothes before kicking the ball onto our side. Not sure if those were aligned with the rules, but whatever. In response to this, I created a tennis racket with my relic and handed it to Ryoma, who jumped into the air and knocked the volleyball onto the other side, causing Kaito to knock it over to our side. Gonta tried hitting the ball, but he was a little too slow, so the point went to the other team.

Some power time passed and we weren't doing well , it was like it was just me, Gonta, Kaede, Ryoma, and Angie Doing all of the work for the team. Kaguya and Yuzuru were bickering between one another, and Korekiyo was still drawing in the sand. Kaede and Ryoma seemed to be getting tired, so I decided to let them sit out and rest their bodies. Gonta and Angie didn't seem too bothered, so they stayed in. Still, Yuzuru and Kaguya were bickering, so I pulled them off to the side to give them a little encouragement.

"Alright you two, stop bickering." I ordered as the two girls pout. "How about this, whoever scores the most points wins a snack of their choosing. However, if you two work together, then I get snacks for both of you."

Both twins seemed encouraged by my words, but my words were actually a test to see what they want. If they both put themselves first, then I'll know they actually despise each other, but if they work together, then I know what I've been curious about this whole time. With my words of encouragement behind them, Yuzuru and Kaguya performed infinitely better, so good that Gonta and Angie could take a break. The two performed in sync with one another, helping each other by tossing one another in the air to block a volleyball from entering our side. With them working in sync, we won the match and Korekiyo finished his drawing in the sand, which was a magic circle. For making something so useless, I hit Korekiyo with a rolled up towel.

"We won!" Kaede hugged me out of excitement after I finished hitting Korekiyo, and I was in pure bliss because I still may or may not have feelings for Kaede, so feeling her hug me with a swimsuit is nice. "Good job everyone!"

"I prayed to Atua for our victory!" Angie held her hands above her head in a prayer motion.

"Good job everyone!" Gonta cheered as Ryoma let out a small smile and the twins cheered for one another.

"Come on (Y/N), we worked together, so now you have to buy us both something!" Kaguya grabbed onto my right hand while Yuzuru grabbed onto my left arm, despite the fact I wanted to hug Kaede more.

Both Yuzuru and Kaguya pulled me towards the food stalls, and while Kaguya was looking around her, Yuzuru pulled me into the nearby space between stalls, which had tent walls to prevent the sellers from finding out we were there. Being thoroughly confused, my friends decided to keep an eye on Kaguya and Yuzuru. Ryoma and Korekiyo followed Kaguya while the rest kept on eye on Yuzuru and I whilst pretending to have a conversation, something about Danny Devito.

"Orders: (Y/N), you need to choose Kaguya." Yuzuru ordered me, which is odd considering this is a competition between the two. "She has a much more cheerful personality than I do, so it would be better if you choose her."

"Don't you want to win this competition?" I asked Yuzuru, who shook her head, much to my surprise. "Do you perhaps care about your sister?"

"Genuinely: Of course I do, I try to make sure I don't hurt Kaguya too much when I fight her." Yuzuru was honest about her feelings, but something was off to me, why still do this competition?

"Why don't you tell your sister this?" I asked, crossing my arms as I did so to get the point across.

"Prideful: Because then I'll admit defeat." Yuzuru now reminded me of Origami, and by that I mean super stubborn but still cares about her sister. "If you choose me over her, I'll destroy this entire island."

"No need to tell me twice." I brushed off Yuzuru's threat and began thinking of a plan should Yuzuru actually attempt to destroy the island.

As I was thinking, I noticed another hand grabbed onto mine and pulled me away from my friends, and given how soft and thin this hand was, I already figured out who was pulling me away from my friends, it was Kaguya for some reason. She kept on pulling me until we were in a different alley, and my friends had to do the exact same thing as earlier to block Yuzuru's view of us. Kaguya let go of my hand and turned her attention onto me.

"(Y/N), you need to choose Yuzuru for this contest, she's super cute underneath that exterior of hers." Kaguya wanted me to choose Yuzuru, I can feel the Deja vu kicking in.

"I kind of had a feeling you secretly cared about her." I chuckled to myself, causing Kaguya to show a face of embarrassment before playfully punching my chest. "Still, I must ask why you don't want to win this competition yourself?"

"Because unlike me, Yuzuru deserves to live here and be happy with you." Kamiya informed me, she was also being genuine about her feelings. "Besides, an amazing spirit like myself might accidentally hurt someone with my power."

"Don't hurt yourself with that ego."

"Shush, silly boy." Kaguya playfully flicked my forehead before actually sounding like a viable threat. "Remember (Y/N), if you choose me over Yuzuru, I will not hesitate to destroy this island and everyone on it!"

"Oh hey, Deja vu."

With that said, Kaguya and I left the alleyway, and the existential dread finally kicked in and I stood at the nearest wall and hand pressed my head against the wall. Out of nowhere, I began screaming out of stress because no matter who I choose, a severe wind storm will blow all of us to smithereens. As I was screaming from all the stress, Kirumi walked up to me, and waited for me to stop before speaking up.

"Feeling better?" Kirumi asked as I turned to her with a lifeless expression. "I'll take that as a no."

"Please slam dunk me into the nearest trash can."

(Timeskip, brought to you by Tohka, Yuzuru, and Kaguya eating tacos while (Y/N) jumps into the nearest trash can to avoid responsibility)

I was currently painting a picture of the ocean onto a canvas to help me relax, I was only using blue paint, so it made it slightly hard to see the painting under the bright full moon. Painting did calm my nerves, and it was worth it because I can sell this painting for profit later. As I painted, I noticed a pair of footsteps walking towards me. I was too invested in my painting to notice until a pair of arms wrapped themselves around me. I turned around and was met with blonde hair with musical note hair clips, it didn't take a genius to realize who I was talking too.

"Hey Kaede."

"Hey (Y/N)." My former pianist friend greeted me with a can of tea in each hand, one of those cans she was offering to me. "Is it alright if we talk for a little bit, you look stressed?"

"Oh, sure." I accepted Kaede's offer and sat down next to the canvas, while Kaede sat down right beside me, watching the waves as she did so. "What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"I noticed you seemed stressed after Yuzuru and Kaguya pulled you off to the side, so I wanted to check in on you." Kaede was being an absolute angel, this is exactly what made me fall for her in the first place. "I know you've been stressed putting up with all of this spirit business."

"It's not all bad." I lied to make myself look tougher for Kaede, since I'm still not sure what kind of guys she likes, but why am I still trying to impress her? "I suppose getting to interact with such a colorful group of people has its perks."

"That's good to hear, I suppose I was worried about you over nothing." Kaede seemed worried about me? Nice. "I was thinking about picking the piano back up."

"Really?" I was amazed, she was terrified to even go near a piano until a little while ago, and here she is saying that she was going to start playing it again. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah, everyone's heard my music except for you, and I wanted to thank you for taking care of me for the past nine months." Kaede recalls when we first met, nine months ago when she showed up on my doorstep. "I owe you so much, for inspiring me with your paintings and actions, even though you can be quite comedic sometimes."

"Oi."

"Still, I didn't come out here to talk about myself, I came up here to check up on you." Kaede explained herself and why she was out here.  "So is everything okay with you?"

"To be honest, I'm lost." I sighed, and Kaede encouraged me to explain what I mean. "Yuzuru and Kaguya want me to choose the other one instead of themselves, and now they're threatening to destroy the island if I don't choose the other one. So I don't know what to do, I want to save them both, but I doubt they'll listen to me no matter what I choose. The moment they realize they both care about each other, they'll realize this competition is pointless and go back to fighting. Oh my gods they're both tsunderes..."

"...I know how they feel." Kaede put her knees towards her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. "Back in the killing game, the few memories I do remember, I wanted to sacrifice myself so everyone else won't have to suffer."

"So what did you do?" I asked, trying to get some advice from the girl, but then I realized that might be a sensitive topic since that was the cause of her death. "Wait, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to!"

"It's fine, and honestly, I couldn't do much other than help Shuichi solve Rantaro's murder." Kaede looked at the waves as she rested her head on my shoulder. "Even after all of...that, I still want the best for everyone."

"That's it..." I thought outloud, as the wind suddenly started picking up, but there were no storms in the area...oh fuck me. "Oh great, I think I might need to put my plan into action now, Kaede, you get Gonta, or Tenko, or anyone who can help me."

"I'll be fine (Y/N)." Kaede stood up and held out her hand to me as the wind started to blow harder. "Besides, when I'm with you, I feel as though anything is possible."

Isn't it supposed to be my job to pull cliche bullshit?

Anyway, I stood up from the sandy beach and noticed that Yuzuru and Kaguya were fighting in the air, something tells me she heard my little confession. Kaede doesn't have anything that could help her right now, like Tenko's martial arts, Himiko's magic, or Kaito's surprisingly high endurance. Kaede is just Kaede, but she's still more useful than Kokichi. I pulled Amaterasu out of my pocket and wrote 'quick' on Kaede's arm, granting her higher speeds in case she does decide to run and get help. Then I decided to try my luck because I had no other options.

"<The Circle Act 3>!"

I unlocked this act after sealing Kurumi's power, and already knew it's abilities. It throws knives that implant themselves in people's heads, but the knives don't hurt or anything, but only I can see them. Whoever has a knife in their head can communicate telepathically with the others, but the knives disappear after a couple minutes. I planted an ethereal knife into my own head before The Circle Act 3 threw knives at both Yuzuru and Kaguya's heads, neither seemed to notice because they were too focused on fighting their sibling. The winds finally became too strong for Kaede to fight against, so she grabbed onto my arm to hold herself in place.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" I shouted at the heavens that the twins fought on, I made sure the message got to them thanks to my stand ensuring they could hear me. "Do either of you want to do this?!"

"I want her to live!" Both the twins shouted at once, as Yuzuru's pendulum blocked Kaguya's lance somehow. "Unlike me, she deserves to live on as the original Yamai!"

"The original Yamai died years ago when both of you were born into this world!" I reminded the two girls, who clinched. "When someone breaks apart, they die! Even if fragments of them live on, those fragments become their own people! Some pursue a life of knowledge, some become rulers, some choose to become artists! No matter what either of you do, the original Yamai will never come back! So live on as Yuzuru and Kaguya, not just for me, but for each other, and the others!"

"But what if I don't deserve to live?!" They Both asked in sync, and that was the most bullshit response I've ever heard.

"Join the club, all of us are monsters!" I shouted at the girls,catching them off guard. "Some of us caused destruction of property, some of us have killed people, and some of us are just seeking redemption for a crime they committed long ago! So I ask you two, can you imagine a world without each other?!"

"I don't want to die...I want to live..." Kaguya starts to slow down with her movements. "I want to be with Yuzuru and (Y/N) more."

"Reply: Yuzuru too." Yuzuru stopped her fighting entirely. "I don't want to disappear. I want to live with Kaguya and (Y/N)."

"Great, you two get down here so I can seal your power!" I ordered them, but suddenly gunshots could be heard. "GOD FUCKING DAMNIT, CAN NOTHING BE EASY?!?!"

Flying towards us is a massive group of weird units with large hands and long limbs. Honestly, I was half tempted to go into combat mode, but Kaede might get caught up in the crossfire. The weird units came flying towards us, and the twins got in a battle stance, but something odd happened.

"Let me show you how to use a relic..."

From behind us, a familiar head of long hair walked forward, revealing an arm covered in white scales. It was King, who was holding a bow in his normal hand. Using unknown means, he created several arrows out of nothing and shot each one in rapid succession, fast enough to put even Kirumi to shame. In half a second, all of the units ,plus a distant airship, were the ocean's property. Every one of them fell into the ocean, floating a bit to reveal contorted bodies like they were twisted. Out of nowhere, King started walking back behind us.

"Sorry for showing off like that, but I kind of had to, because then the chapters wouldn't fit together." King explained, which doesn't help much. "Take it away author!"

Fuck you.

(A/N: I know it seems random, but doing it any other way would have made the word count either way past my usual zone or way below. Why do I have a basic word count? Well it's kind of like pacing yourself for exercising, going under makes me feel disgusted with myself and going above tires me out. Good news is, now we get to move onto Miku! My second favorite girl and the one with the most character development in my opinion!