Chapter 31 The three girls in my life

​The two began bickering like mortal enemies, especially when Elisa realized Lea was the student Romeo had been tutoring every day—the reason my brother couldn't hang out with her anymore.

​"This is disappointing. It looks like it'll take a long time for Romeo to turn his student into an actual intelligent human being," Elisa sighed, crossing her arms.

​"W-w-what are you implying, you 'half-baked' woman?!" Lea shouted.

​"Huh? Wait, I didn't realize Romeo accepted a face full of gluta-bleach as a friend. Tsk. He's smart, but sometimes he doesn't think straight," Lea shot back.

​They wouldn't stop throwing shade at each other. I stood there, unsure if I should intervene or just let them at it, since their fight didn't even seem to involve me.

​"Now that I've seen you, I know why Romeo chooses to tutor me in his spare time instead of hanging out with his 'friend,'" Lea added.

​That pushed Elisa over the edge. She was already bitter about Romeo canceling their plans because of his busy schedule.

​"Ah... I know. To make things easier, why don't you join my tutorial class? I'll teach you a lesson on how to stay in your place," Elisa challenged.

​The insults grew sharper as they both tried to assert dominance. I stepped between them, hands raised to prevent a riot. I didn't want blood spilled in my house.

​"Wait... if you think about it, this situation is actually kind of great," I thought to myself.

​This scene was exactly like an anime where two girls in the protagonist's life collide. This is the trope every guy wants: two girls acting catty in front of you—the childhood friend versus the current girlfriend, fighting for your attention.

​As an otaku, I've watched plenty of harem anime. You can't help but fantasize about having a moment where people fight over you, even if you know you aren't exactly a male lead in the looks department. It's a confidence boost.

​But something felt off. The bickering between the childhood friend and the girlfriend wasn't going the way it does in the shows.

​No, this was wrong. They weren't fighting over me. They were fighting over another guy. I didn't know whether to be insulted or amused.

​I was the one standing right in front of them, but it was my brother's attention they were fighting for. The audacity!

​"Wait a minute!! Show some respect, guys! I'm the one standing here, but you're fighting over my brother!" I suddenly yelled.

​They went quiet, but the cattiness remained. I didn't expect them to clash like this over Romeo. Elisa had always been close to him, so her jealousy was natural, but this fujoshi next to me was acting like she had a love interest in my brother too.

​He's handsome, smart, and resourceful—it's no secret girls like him—but I thought Lea wasn't interested in "3D" people.

​Then, a realization hit me.

​"Wait, Elisa, how did you get through the gate? I locked it."

​She quickly hid her purse behind her back, but the jingle of keys gave her away. It was clear she was hiding something, and her behavior inside our house was becoming increasingly suspicious.

​"Hey! Are you a burglar? I'll report you to the police!" I shouted, pointing a finger.

​"Don't worry, Didi, I'm not stealing anything. My family is rich," she replied, showing off a duplicate gate key with a smug grin.

​"It's not about the stuff, it's about our privacy!" I yelled.

​"Privacy? You have nothing to hide from me. If anything, even your parents want you to be outside and exposed to the public more often," Elisa joked.

​I tried to snatch the keys from her hand, but she resisted, holding them away. We scrambled around like a cat and dog fighting over a toy, bumping into the coffee table and nearly knocking the chess pieces onto the floor.

​"Give me that! You can't just have a key to a house you don't own!"

​In the middle of our struggle for the keys, Nikki arrived home. She stopped at the door, her school bag hanging off one shoulder, staring at us. From her perspective, it looked like I was hugging Elisa from behind and forcibly grabbing her hands.

​"W-wait... you're home already," I stuttered, freezing in place.

​"W-wh-what are you doing to Ate Elisa, Kuya?" Nikki asked, her voice flat.

​I could see the judgment in my sister's eyes. She clearly thought I was up to something perverted. She smirked at me with a look of pure disgust.

​"H-h-hey Nikki, it's not what it looks like!" I said, frantically backing away from Elisa.

​But as expected, Nikki wasn't buying it. To make matters worse, Elisa ran behind my sister, acting terrified.

​"Protect me, Niks! Your brother is molesting me!" Elisa cried, putting on a fake sob.

​"W-w-what? Molesting?! You're crazy! I would never do that!"

​"I saw the whole thing, Kuya," Nikki said, shaking her head. "I'm telling Mom you're harassing ate again." She added. 

" What? Wait, what do you mean again? " 

​"I was just trying to get the keys!" I pleaded, looking toward Lea for help, but she just looked back at the chessboard.

​"Serves you right, you pervy monkey," Lea muttered, resetting her Rook. "Now, are we going to finish this game, or are you too busy being a criminal?"

​I wanted to protest and defend myself, but what was the point of explaining? He had no intention of listening to me anyway.

​"Hey! Take that back! You're ruining my reputation!"

​"I'm a decent person," I added. "I don't mess around, and I don't even touch those lewd magazines."

​But as the three of us went back and forth—with me defending my honor as a "wholesome" human being—Lea sat there in silence, casually reading a Yaoi manga.

​The moment I saw it, I bolted to her side and snatched the book, desperate to hide it from my sister's sight.

​"No! Give it back!" Lea shrieked, reaching out to reclaim her manga.

​I pulled her close—our foreheads nearly colliding—and hissed a warning into her ear.

​"Put that away! Nikki shouldn't be seeing stuff like that," I whispered, my eyes burning with intensity.

​She froze for a moment, then went quiet, retreating to the sofa like a child who had just been scolded by a parent.

​"Wait, aren't you going to do anything?" Nikki asked Lea. "Your boyfriend is cheating on you right in front of your face."

​"Huh? Oh... well... that's just his nature. He does that with girls outside all the time. As an understanding woman, I just... let him be," Lea replied.

​She said it without a hint of hesitation, completely disregarding my desperate attempt to protect my reputation in front of my sister.

​"Hey, take that back! I am not that kind of person!" I snapped, pinching Lea's cheeks.

​I was running out of excuses. This fujoshi was making my sister's malicious assumptions look like the absolute truth.

​"I feel sorry for you," Nikki whispered. "Of all the decent men out there, you chose to marry my brother."

​"Hey! I heard that!" I yelled.

​Nikki walked over and placed the snacks she'd bought on the coffee table, inviting everyone to eat. Neither of them declined—especially my thick-skinned neighbor.

​"Come on, let's play Scrabble with 'Crimson Rules,'" Lea suggested, clutching a wooden stick. "There's a time limit for every turn, and physical, mental, and spiritual attacks are all legal."

​"Hold on, don't drag my sister into your nonsense!" I protested.

​Ignoring me, they sat in the living room and started setting up board games. I didn't know if I could even refuse; I just wanted to avoid whatever chaos their combination would cause.

​Why was I worried?

​Because putting a fujoshi, a K-poper, and a normie in one room to play a game where trash-talking and "violence" are legal is a recipe for disaster.