Story: Chilly Harem

 

My dearest diary,

Benten has proven to be a quite helpful test subject for my plans with Lum. It will be a most delicate matter, as Lum is not only a dear friend but one whose eyes have already been opened to how wonderful her Darling is. The issue here is plainly not affection - It is in persuading her of the validity of the harem itself.

She has always been like that, dearest diary. She cannot help herself, but hoard things that she wants to herself. It's not that she's a bad person, it's more that she gets... distracted by her emotions. This is what I must help her with. This is what I must help her train through. And luckily, I have the perfect plan to help that along...

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Lum was looking forward to this. A real sit down chat with her friends, where she could tell them about the nonsense Darling was up to lately - and maybe figure out a way to get him to settle down at last! His recent behaviour had been very rude and suspicious. She really needed to rein him in at last, no more messing around, no more of his wannabe playboy antics! Just the two of them, together, no other girls should have his attention but her!

"Oyuki, I'm here!" Lum called out as she flew through the space-time corridor. She found herself in a room that Oyuki had prepared for guests, that was intended to be comfortable for them, without causing discomfort to her Neptunian biology. That is, it's not too hot, not too cold and - "Huh?"

That confused grunt was because she found Benten in the room as well, hooked up to a strange device. There was a visor over her head, and she was wearing this full body suit. Behind her was a screen which was showing Benten in a room full of tough looking guys coming towards her with an assortment of weapons - and Benten was whooping ass.

"Hiyaaaa!" Benten yelled, and her movements perfectly matched those of the Benten on screen. "Take this, ya losers! Haha!"

"It seems that Benten is rather taken with our new virtual reality simulator," Oyuki said, suddenly appearing behind Lum without warning. She should really get out of that habit, it made Lum jump out of her skin every time! "Would you like a try, Lum? It's fully immersive."

"Ah, maybe later!" Lum said. "Right now, I want to talk about Darling! I can't get distracted this time, I need to put my foot down and sort him out once and for all!"

"I see," Oyuki nodded. "Well, perhaps the simulator could help with that. I can have it create a replica of your Darling for you to interact with. It would be programmed based on your own data. That might help more than us merely talking about him, would you not agree?"

Oh, that makes a lot more sense. This is why you really wanted to meet up, wasn't it? To use your old friends as test dummies for this new product! Still, that did sound like a sensible enough idea. A simulation, huh? Benten sure seemed to be having fun.

"What's with the bodysuit?" Lum asked. "It looks kind of form fitting."

"I didn't peg you the sort to have any shame about your body," Oyuki replied, giving Lum a meaningful once over. Hrmph! Okay, so what? Oni girls like her wore this kind of bikini until they got married or had their first kid or whatever. It was normal! Granted, Lum knew she did have a pretty cute body, but - Bah! That kind of comment was unwarranted! "It's a sensory unit. It provides tactile feedback, and a more fluid natural movement for your avatar."

In other words, it's both an input and output device? Something you have to wear? Sure enough, Benten got clobbered from behind and dropped like a sack of hammers. The words "Game Over" flashed on the screen. Then she pulled off the helmet and let out a frustrated yelp.

"Do take care not to break the equipment, or you shall have to pay for its replacement," Oyuki warned. A fine thing to remember when she was around. Oyuki wouldn't forget, and she wouldn't let you forget either. "Lum, would you like to take your turn?"

"Oh yeah, you gotta give this a try!" Benten said. "It's just like being there!"

Lum drifted across the room to look the equipment over. Benten was already peeling the suit off herself without any shame. Not that she needed any, they were all girls here. Still... "Do I have to be naked under this?"

"For the full tactile experience, it is highly recommended," Oyuki said. Huh... Okay then. "Put the helmet on and think about your Darling."

Put the helmet on... And think about Darling. Okay. Lum did just that before undressing, letting the contraption scan her surface level thoughts. Darling. Darling. Darling... Her vision was suddenly filled with his charming, handsome face. Looking at her, offering her a bouquet of flowers in one hand and spicy peppers in the other.

"For you, my beloved, my one and only," the image of Darling said, and Lum couldn't help but swoon for the few seconds she could see this wonderful sight before Oyuki and Benten broke through and gave her a good long Look.

"Uh, is this how you actually see him...?" Benten asked. Then she snapped her fingers, making a console appear, and she began to type away at it. "The reality is more like..."

"Hey, babe!" Ataru rushed over towards Oyuki and leaned into her personal space. "What's your name? Phone number? Address?"

Okay. Alright. Much as she hated to admit it, that was far more like Darling than the cool, handsome, suave guy she was thinking of. "Darling!" she yelled, baring her fangs, concentrating her eyes right on him. She raised a finger and then - "Yipe!"

"We are dealing with electronic equipment," Oyuki said. "Therefore, it was obviously necessary to make it lightning proof before letting you have it."

"Yeah! Hah!" Benten smirked. "Besides, shocking him all the damn time doesn't seem to be doing nothing! You gotta try a different approach! Why don't we populate this as a street, and you gotta keep his attention on you from one side to the other."

"Without electricity...?" Lum blinked. "Hrm. I suppose I should be able to do that." If she could do that with a simulation, then she could take those lessons and apply them to real life! The avatars of Benten and Oyuki vanished, and the words "Round 1" entered her vision. She immediately made a beeline for Darling, intending to glom onto his arm -

"Hey babe, where you heading at a time like this?" the simulation of Ataru asked a passing girl in a flimsy bikini. He then proceeded to bounce between her and her three friends, asking them all the same question, blatantly hitting on all of them at once, right where she could see...

"Darling..." Lum warned - and immediately felt like she'd been punched in the gut. "Oof!" she yelped, dropping to her knees as the words 'mission failed, try again?' came up on the screen. Below it were two options: Hint and restart, or quit. Lum begrudgingly picked the 'hint and restart' option, she wasn't giving up after one try!

"Sometimes a carrot is more potent than a stick..." Lum read aloud. Huh? What did that mean? "Try something that you haven't tried before. Be bold, be brave, and use the tools at your disposal..."

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Lum seemed to be enjoying herself. Completely oblivious to her surroundings as she played this fun little game. Keep Ataru's attention on her? Very good. This would let her practise a few different methods. Trying to haul him physically away from the girls was her first real attempt - which failed, of course. Then she tried floating directly in front of him, but he was a bit too nimble and unpredictable for that to work for long.

"How long do you think it'll take her?" asked Benten, standing in front of their friend while wearing a seductive, enticing harem outfit. "She's gonna be so, so hot when she gives in, but you know how stubborn she is."

Oyuki held a finger to her lips. While Lum couldn't hear them right now, there was no sense in taking foolish risks. Then again, Benten was wearing that harem outfit, and sighing happily while looking at the image of Ataru... It only goes to show the sheer effectiveness of the techniques being put to good use here.

"Tcha! This is impossible!" Lum yelled, stamping her foot. "How do I keep his attention... Wait... I hadn't thought of trying that... Would that really work?"

It was a potent form of conditioning, especially with the tactile feedback. The game would train Lum into becoming gradually more and more open to an open relationship with Ataru. The affection and attraction was clearly already there, which meant that half of the work was already done! Everything from here should  flow smoothly and well.

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Dearest diary,

I had forgotten one important part about Lum when coming up with my plan: Lum is a bundle of chaos energy that ruins everything she touches, quite without meaning to. Despite my planning for her electrical outbursts, I had clearly not put as much thought into this as I should have. I shall explain in more detail presently - for now, I must attempt to clean up my mess.

Sincerely yours,

Oyuki.