Days march on, with the date of Kazuya’s scheduled Baptism/surgery nearing closer and closer.  During that time, Kazuya tries to keep his mind from dwelling too much on what Gengo told him about his parents and his infant years.  While it was all a lot to take in and process, he was at least content to know that his parents were alive.  So there was the chance that at some point in the future that he would get to see them and speak to them after assuming them to be dead for so many years.

And to Gengo’s credit, Kazuya had to admit (reluctantly) that he wasn’t even sure what he would say to either of them if he did meet them face-to-face, especially his mother, given her emotional state from what Gengo and Kazuha told him.

So for now, Kazuya would focus his attention on his studies at West Genetics as well as his Limiter training.  After all, that was his main reason for enrolling as a Limiter in the first place, given the world in which he lived.

Of course, from what he managed to glean from his conversation with Gengo, the old man desired for Kazuya to focus on deepening his relationships with each and every Pandora with whom he was currently paired up with - sixteen in the immediate sense and another seven not too far afterwards, including the headmistress of West Genetics no less!

“Twenty-three wives,” muttered Kazuya in self-reflection.  “Can a man really serve as a loving husband to twenty-three different women?  It sounds ridiculous.  How in the world can one man honestly be a worthy partner - a worthy lover to THAT MANY WOMEN?”  The absurdity of it all was a bit much for Kazuya to process.

Granted, while a part of him was quite humbled and grateful that so many women were willing to partner up with him simultaneously, another part of him wished that he had a magic wand and could make the ratio become literally one-to-one, thus negating the need for harem-styled relationships between Pandoras and Limiters.  For in Kazuya’s mindset, the ideal situation between Pandora and Limiter was for the Pandora’s “One” to literally be only one Limiter and no more.

‘If there’s some kind of creator or “will of the universe” that desires such a ratio between the sexes like this, that being is most definitely perverted to at least some extent, that’s for sure,’ thought Kazuya in reflection at the situation.

In any case, given the world in which he lived, Kazuya would make the best of things and try to give as much of himself to the sixteen young women he was currently paired with, bearing in mind that there were another seven on top waiting in the wings…

…one of them being his own sister.

“Kazuha,” Kazuya would quietly sigh when nobody could see or hear him whenever she came to mind.  Out of all the women he was paired up with, in a way she was the most conflicting of the group, given that she was both family and someone who held possession of his heart.  Even if broader society would look down upon the two of them for having such desires and passionate love for one another, he simply couldn’t help but feel the way he did towards her…no matter what others might say or how harshly they may judge him for it.  To Kazuya, Kazuha was his emotional rock for so much of his childhood that he simply couldn’t help but hold a crush for her to the point of wanting to marry her when he got older.  And while Kazuya pondered if such a crush was something he would eventually grow out of, it turned out that the opposite ended up being the case.

Even now, into Kazuya’s freshman year at a Genetics academy, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of romantic longing towards Kazuha, even after all these years.  The only thing that really shocked him was that Kazuha not only reciprocated those feelings, but was willing to act on them, given the dialogue between the two of them in days past.

As far as Kazuha was concerned, anybody who took issue with the two of them being in love with one another and expressing that love for one another could go to hell.  It was a sentiment that Kazuya couldn’t help but admire for the tenacity of it all, while at the same time being somewhat unable to understand how a person could be so sure and determined in their desires when it came to such things.

‘I suppose it has to do with that whole “being above others” bit that Kazuha was talking about, as if our family is somehow above the rest of mankind,’ thought Kazuya.  ‘What was she implying about that whole thing?  Was she saying that we’re…what?  A group of gods looking down on the rest of humanity?  That we’re superior beings or higher lifeforms who don’t answer to anybody else on the planet?  That’s a rather arrogant mindset to have.’

‘It’s also justifiable if it basically turns out to be TRUE,’ replied Kazuya’s Id in response to such a postulation.

‘Don’t you start,’ grumbled Kazuya to his baser nature.  ‘I’m not some kind of god looking down on others, and I won’t entertain that notion.’

‘You sure?’ replied Id, ‘I mean…if you ended up becoming a Limiter in a class all your own, separate from literally ALL other Limiters, wouldn’t that make you the top of the proverbial food chain?  After all, in every group, there ends up being someone who is considered “the best” when all is said and done…the best athlete, the best actor, the best musician, the best politician, and so on and so forth.  I mean, aren’t competitions effectively done to determine who “the best” is, after all?’

‘You’re being overly simplistic,’ countered Kazuya.

‘Am I?  Look at award shows and sports competitions.  Isn’t the winner at award ceremonies considered “the best” when all is said and done?  In elections, doesn’t the better candidate end up being picked as the nation's leader, assuming a free and fair election of course?  When entertainers are given awards for “best album,” “best song,” “best actor or actress,” “best picture,” and so on, aren’t they being effectively declared the top of their group upon receiving said award?  When an athlete is given the championship trophy, isn’t that athlete considered “the best” among their group?  So then why not the same thing for a Limiter then?  Wouldn’t it be a fair thing to consider that the Limiter who has the most Pandoras partnered up with him to be the outright BEST among all Limiters?  Is it arrogance to simply state a FACT, even if that fact makes others uncomfortable or upset?’

‘Enough out of you already,’ groaned Kazuya as he tried to tune out his own id speaking to him.

‘Fine fine,’ Kazuya’s Id grumbled in response, ‘but given that I’m effectively a part of your very own psyche, I think that deep down you know that I’m right…at least to some extent anyway.  The way I see it, it’s not haughty or arrogant to simply state the obvious to others, even if their fragile egos can’t handle hearing it.’

These were Kazuya’s thoughts of self-reflection in the days after his little heart-to-heart with Gengo, mainly his conundrum over embracing a harem as well as embracing the idea of accepting Kazuha into said harem to boot.

As for the younger Pandoras in Kazuya’s harem, they were quite patient and understanding with him, which boggled Kazuya’s mind to no end.  Even granting that they were being considerate of the fact that Kazuya was only one man and they were a group of sixteen, literally every single one of the younger Pandoras was remarkably understanding and didn’t push the young man too hard when it came to hoarding him all to herself.

Even Satellizer and Rana - as thirsty as they were towards Kazuya - showed remarkable restraint when it came to being patient towards him.  To be clear, whenever the opportunity presented itself for either of them to have the Limiter all to herself (or themselves when the two of them decided to tag-team and share Kazuya between them), Satellizer and Rana most certainly made the most of it, making sure to snuggle extra tenderly and passionately up against Kazuya when in bed or when serving as his de facto chair during mealtime or study sessions.  But whenever the time came up for either of them to hand Kazuya over somebody else for her respective share of “Kazuya Time,” both Satellizer and Rana were surprisingly quite mature and understanding about such a thing (if a bit reluctant, all the same).

Maybe Chiffon, Elizabeth, or one of the others managed to persuade Satellizer and Rana to be understanding, for the sake of the whole team and for unit cohesion.  Perhaps the older Pandoras served as mediators to help educate the younger Pandoras on how to properly serve as fellow lovers within such a group dynamic.  It was quite possible that Satellizer’s older sister served in such a function to help quell and calm Satellizer’s sexual urges and tendencies towards Kazuya, though practically all of the older Pandoras served in such a function to boot.

The only one whom he wasn’t quite sure of was the one named Su-Na.  While she didn’t come off as malicious or cold-hearted per se, she wasn’t really one to offer advice or guidance when it came to matters of romance and harem-themed group dynamics.  Most likely that stemmed from the fact that Su-Na Lee wasn’t one for romance during her student years and thus didn’t have much noteworthy advice to offer in the first place.  Whatever the case with her, Su-Na effectively let the other six within her group do their part to help mediate and educate the younger Pandoras so as to effectively help make the harem work in the end…

…which was quite the undertaking to do, given that as far as Gengo Aoi was concerned, the end objective of such a group dynamic was to quite literally have Kazuya refer to every Pandora in his harem as his wife…as well as the mother of his children no less.

But anyways, enough about Kazuya’s concerns regarding his ever-growing harem.  Back to the everyday humdrum of school life at an academy full of towering teenage beauties pining for their waist-high male partners and getting into sexually-charged harem-themed hijinks…oh, and training to effectively fight off extraterrestrial, other-worldly entities who threaten civilization and life as we know it, of course.  That kind of stuff is important too.

There was one incident that resulted in a “close call” for Kazuya.

It happened at sundown, with the last of Kazuya’s classes wrapping up.  That day, Elize took all of the third-year Pandoras over to the West Genetics medical lab in order to run some blood work and collect stigmatic samples from them.  It was nothing serious…just preliminary work that needed doing in preparation for their Baptisms with Kazuya, nothing more.  While they would have preferred to do so back at the mansion/compound, the medical facilities they had there weren’t quite as adequate compared to the main medical lab on campus grounds.

That was something which Gengo Aoi would have to make note of and rectify.  As far as he was concerned, only the best and most state-of-the-art facilities at Kazuya’s current on-campus home would suffice.  It happened to just be one of those minor oversights which slipped his mind at the time.

But anyways, in light of that minor architectural oversight, Elize and all of the 3rd-year Pandoras headed off towards the primary on-campus med lab.  While Kazuya, Kaho, and Ganessa volunteered to stick around until whatever samples needed to be collected and analyzed, they were politely turned down by Chiffon and the others.

“It’s sweet of you to do that, Kazuya,” replied Chiffon, “but we’ll be okay.  Why don’t you and the other two spend some quality time alone?  I figure that now would be an ideal moment for the three of you to do some bonding while the Big Sisters are away.”  Chiffon briefly opened her eyes, then proceeded to give a sexy little wink to Kazuya, the implications understood clearly enough.

“You sure?” asked Kazuya.

“Chiffon’s right,” added Elizabeth.  “While I certainly would prefer to have you sitting in my lap and entangled in my arms, Kazuya dear, it’s only fair that the others in our family get their fair share of time with you, especially in the cases of Kaho and Ganessa.  Feel free to spoil them extra hard so that they don’t feel so intimidated being surrounded by us 3rd-years, would you?  If they’re part of our family, it’s for a damn good reason after all.”

As improbable as it might sound (especially from Kazuya’s point of view), the sentiment was shared among the rest of the 3rd-years in Kazuya’s group.  Even Satellizer and Rana - as thirsty for Kazuya’s companionship as they were known to be - agreed and relented that if everyone in the group truly desired for everyone else’s happiness, they would be mature about this and relent on trying to monopolize Kazuya from time to time.  After all, they were all effectively becoming sisters to one another in the figurative sense of the word…

…or was the term “sister wives” more appropriate perhaps, since this type of multi-party relationship entailed romance, passion, intimacy, and (according to Gengo anyway) eventual marriage?

Regardless of the terminology and word choice, Kazuya, Ganessa, and Kaho headed off to wander the campus grounds while the 3rd-years took care of their preliminary testing at the med lab.  For their part in all of it, neither Ganessa nor Kaho were complaining about having the Limiter to themselves for a little while, that’s for sure.

After a quick bite at the food court, Kazuya wandered alongside the two Pandoras who flanked him.  As was the case between Limiters and Pandoras walking alongside one another, the Pandoras had to slow their pacing as they walked, given that their legs were the same height (or taller) than a Limiter’s entire height.  Bearing that in mind, Kazuya tried to pick up the pace and move at a brisk walking pace so as to not slow Kaho or Ganessa down too much.

Of course, Ganessa caught on quick enough as to what he was doing, and decided to remedy the situation by simply scooping Kazuya up in her arms and holding him against her frame (and bosom) like she was cradling an infant or small child against her.

“G-Ganessa, what are you doing?” asked a somewhat flustered Kazuya, not expecting her to be so brazen.

“I know what you’re trying to do, and I’m simply not allowing for it, that’s all,” replied the pig-tailed redhead.

“What do you mean?”

“I know that you feel like you’re holding us back when we walk, and so you’re picking up the pace so that we don’t need to slow down too much.  Just to elaborate on two points:  First off, we don’t mind in the slightest walking alongside you at a pace that makes you comfortable, understand, Kazuya?  It’s not an inconvenience on our part at all, right Kaho?”  Ganessa gestured to the freshman Pandora in the trio.

“Exactly,” chimed Kaho with a grin.

“And point number two,” continued Ganessa, “if you’re going to go out of your way to speed walk or jog out of consideration on our part, then I’m simply going to veto your gesture and carry you around instead…which I’m enjoying very much for your information, by the way.”  Ganessa grinned before sneaking a quick smooch on Kazuya’s lips as she held him firmly against her body, making sure to press her bosom firmly against the young man in her embrace.

“Sorry,” muttered Kazuya, “old dog, new tricks, and all that, you know?  Guess I just have an outdated sense of chivalry when it comes to this sort of thing, so I try to not be such a burden on your part, that’s all.”

“There you go again,” sighed Ganessa.  “You’re sweet to the point of giving a girl a toothache, you know that?”  She followed through with another smooch on his lips before gesturing for Kaho to get in “on the action,” which certainly surprised Kazuya that she was willing to share on their session of “Kazuya time.”

The freshman Pandora took up the offer made to her and gave Kazuya a smooch on the lips, which admittedly took Kazuya by surprise a little bit.  After all, Kaho came off as the more coquettish of the lot, hesitant to take the initiative when it came to romantic intimacy.  Yet apparently, after spending enough time around her fellow “sisters” (or “sister-wives-to-be” as Gengo intended), she had apparently come out of her shell somewhat learned to be just a tiny bit more impulsive when it came to acting on teenage, hormonally-induced passions.  

Perhaps spending time with Roxanne, Julia, and the more “frisky” types of Kazuya’s harem was starting to have an effect on the more reserved types like Holly, Cassie, Ticy, and Kaho.  For the time being, it was a theory, but certainly one to consider in light of these developments.

Deciding to simply find a bench for the three of them to sit and pseudo-cuddle, Ganessa found a relatively secluded spot to do just that.  Upon taking a seat, she gestured for Kaho to sit right alongside her so that they were pressed right up against one another, shoulder to shoulder.  That left Kazuya effectively seated between the two of them, resting on Ganessa’s left thigh and Kaho’s right thigh, with he head laying back against Ganessa’s left breast/Kaho’s right breast as the two Pandoras lounged against the bench seat, each of them draping an arm over Kazuya’s frame as they collectively hugged him against their bodies while at the same time draping their other arm over the other Pandora’s shoulder.

To an outsider, it would look like Ganessa and Kaho were straight-up lesbian lovers with Kazuya serving as the third wheel to their group tricycle, so to speak.  Given the set-up of their relationship, that probably wasn’t too far off the mark.  Of course, whether or not Ganessa and Kaho were into each other as well as Kazuya was anyone’s guess…

…but Kazuya couldn’t help but ponder on the speculation as to whether or not most Pandoras who entered into such arrangements ended up being into one another as well as their shared Limiter.  He’d be lying if he didn’t find the idea to be extremely sexy in all blunt honesty, though he was reluctant to ever proposition the idea of his Pandoras getting fresh, hot and heavy with one another during whatever makeout sessions would break out among themselves.

Though to be fair, there were those like Roxanne and Julia who seemed to have no problem whatsoever with taking the initiative and “getting to know” their fellow sisters in the most intimate of ways.  Whether or not they would succeed in converting literally all the others in Kazuya’s harem into sharing such “tastes,” Kazuya was not sure…

…though it would most certainly make his heart skip a beat at the idea of sixteen bi-sexual partners who were just as willing to love one another as they were willing to love him.

“Everything alright, Kazuya?” asked Kaho as the three sat there.  “You look like you’re deep in thought.”

“Oh, um yeah,” he replied.  “Sorry, just thinking things over since the past few days.  It’s…kind of a lot to take in, ever since that little sit-down with my grandfather.”

Upon returning from Gengo’s on-campus home/office, Kazuya let out all that he learned to the other Pandoras - all twenty-three of them.  Of course, even if he hadn’t, chances were good that Chiffon, Su-Na, or Margaret would have conveyed at least some of what transpired between Kazuya and Gengo, but Kazuya felt that it would be best to let all of them know what Gengo revealed about his past to him.  After all, they were bound to be at least a little curious as to what went down between the young man and his grandfather, and Kazuya preferred not to keep his partners in the dark on such things.

In the immediate aftermath of revealing his family history to the others, the younger Pandoras of the bunch appeared even more eager to offer extra cuddling time with Kazuya in order to help soothe and ease his mind in light of such revelations.  Kazuya certainly took them up on the offer, not wanting to be rude in declining their generosity towards him.  The only dilemma was trying to make time enough for each and every one of them during those sessions, but to their credit, the younger Pandoras were amazingly patient in waiting their turn for cuddling sessions with their partner.

One way in which they remedied the situation somewhat was by effectively teaming up into pairs during their sessions.  While there was some degree of alternating between who paired up with whom, the breakdown usually ended up being such:

Satellizer & Rana

Chiffon & Ticy

Arnett & Creo

Ganessa & Kaho

Attia & Ingrid

Elizabeth & Holly

Roxanne & Charles

Julia & Cassie

Regarding the situation between Julia and Cassie, the former tended to be just as forward and flirtatious towards Cassie as she was towards Kazuya, desiring to effectively have both of them at the same time.  What was surprising enough was that while Kazuya expected Cassie to act rather bothered and flustered by Julia’s advances, the green-haired “Godspeed of East Genetics” tended to give as good as she got in turn, matching Julia when it came to things like kissing, caressing, fondling (up top or down below), and any other sexually-charged flirtatious acts.  This in turn both surprised Julia at Cassie’s willingness to match Julia’s own playful hunger and made Julia “up her game” when it came to pursuing Cassie (along with pretty much everyone else in the days after Kazuya and Gengo’s little sit-down).

As for the other seven recently-arrived Pandoras to Kazuya’s harem, they were far more patient and understanding with regards to getting intimate with their selected Limiter.  While Gengo made it clear that he intended for literally all the Pandora’s in Kazuya’s harem to get closer and form stronger bonds with the young man, Kazuya was thankful that the older members of his proverbial family weren’t necessarily as hungry and thirsty as their younger counterparts.  Perhaps it was the old adage of “with age comes experience and wisdom,” given the patience shown by Yu-Mi, Elize, Margaret and the others.  When it came to the Pandoras within Kazuya’s group, the older ones were most certainly the “Big Sisters” of the bunch in terms of maturity and patience.

Of course, that didn’t mean that they were going to be outright chaste nuns either…well, maybe Margaret and Su-Na in some regards, the former for yearning to keep to her faith and not give into temptations of the flesh, and the latter for struggling to cement meaningful and heartfelt relationships with most other people in general.  Even so, there was the sort of unspoken understanding that they were expected to fulfill their duties  as members of Kazuya’s harem and tend to their proverbial “Little Brother’s” needs just like all the other Pandoras in his family (both the student Pandoras and the faculty Pandoras).

But we’ve gotten off topic now, haven’t we?  Back to Kazuya, Ganessa, and Kaho lounging on the bench during a cool, crisp evening on the campus grounds.

Simply content to chat the day away and make pleasant small talk with the younger members of his harem (Kazuya still couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit guilty thinking of and using the word harem when it came to his partners), Kazuya brought up the fact that it was starting to get late as the sun began its westward descent over the horizon, indicating the transition between late evening into nighttime.

“The others should probably be finishing up soon,” said the young man, “so what say we head back home and start making dinner?  That way they can come home to a hot, home cooked meal when they get off?”

“Sounds good to me,” chimed Kaho with a grin, before turning to Ganessa for her opinion.

“Fine, I suppose,” gently grumbled Ganessa, reluctant to get up off the bench as she was enjoying the cuddling session with Kazuya with particularly strong gusto.  “Though I’d prefer that we just order in for tonight, if I’m being honest.”

“I’m sure we can find something to make that won’t be too difficult to cook,” said Kaho.  “If need be, we can just defrost some chicken tenderloins or some fish fillets and make that with a side of instant rice and some canned vegetables or something along those lines.  In any case, whether we cook or not, we really should be heading back home now before it gets much later.”

“Oh fine,” sighed Ganessa, slightly disheartened that her cuddling session with Kazuya was coming to an end as she tenderly squeezed the Limiter just a tad tighter against her torso/bosom before getting up.  Deciding that she would gift herself a consolation prize by carrying Kazuya infant-style in her embrace, Ganessa took the lead on the walk back to their home, with Kaho in close tow.

It was when the trio was walking along a particularly lonesome stretch of walkway devoid of other students nearby (given how late it was getting) that a different trio decided to make their move and strike without warning…