Story: Chilly Harem

 

My dearest diary, I promised an explanation, and so I shall provide one. 

At first, everything seemed to be going quite well. Lum was quite engrossed in the game, and seemed to be growing more and more determined to win...

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Hrmph! There had to be a way to win this! Lum was certain of it! You wouldn't design a game without a winning strategy, right? What would be the point? Unless Oyuki was doing this to teach her a lesson. The only winning move is not to -

"Hey babe, wanna hang out later - "

"Darling!" Lum yelled, trying to send a bolt of lightning at him - but to no avail. She ate another penalty for the attempt too. Ooh! Alright, fine! Let's try it then. She'd already been toying with the idea, but... let's see if a change in costume did the job? While her regular bikini was surely sexy enough, maybe it wasn't hitting Darling's buttons...?

Alright, in that case let's see what the options are... Oh! This is pretty cute! It's a variation on the uniform they wear for school! A cute blue ruffled skirt, but way shorter... Tied off shirt under the breasts, short sleeves, pretty deep cleavage... It didn't show off as much as her bikini by a long shot, but wearing this did make Lum feel naughtier. Maybe it would meet with more -

"Hey Lum, I like the new look!" Ataru said. Oooh! Nice, a good reaction that time, and - "Yahoo, hey cutie, wanna hang out later on?"

Clang! She dropped a bin on his head, and the scenario reset. Alright. Maybe she was on the right track, but hadn't found the right costume yet. Let's try a sexy nurse outfit? Something more like Miss Sakura would wear! Except, uh, a bit tighter in certain areas and certainly showing off more of her body too! 

"Hey Lum, is that your career pick? You look pretty good in - Hey babe! Let's get some ice -"

Clang! Oooh! It was an improvement, for sure, but still not quite right! She'd had a different response both times, so this probably was the right general idea, but she hadn't hit upon the right costume yet. Let's see, let's see...

"Harem girl...?" Lum read aloud. Then immediately swiped past it without a second thought. "Oh! Maybe a sexy garbage collector? That might work!"

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She moved right past it without even trying it. Oyuki was the kind of person who did not express emotion on her face very well, but you could still tell how she was feeling by assessing the atmosphere in the room. And right now? That atmosphere was growing colder. Icier. Flecks of frost forming on every surface. She had quite deliberately placed the harem outfit near the start, but not actually there. Wearing it would have brought Lum a great deal of success - but would not have been enough to entirely win on its own. No other costume would come close, and so she would have been guided into trying further things. Like dancing for him. Like internally accepting the idea of being part of a harem.

Instead, she had gone right by it without so much as a glance. Not even considered it. Despite what the hints were pointing to. Outright telling her to take that particular outfit would, of course, ruin everything. The conditioning would be spoiled, she'd see through what was happening, and a person's instinct upon noticing that they're being manipulated is to rebel. Even when it is for their own good. Or at least to their own benefit.

"So what now?" Benten asked. Still dancing away in her own costume. Though stepping up the pace a bit to shake the cold off."It doesn't look like Lum's learning anything, and she's getting kinda pissed off."

"Quite so," Oyuki replied, though she had not given up yet! She moved to the control panel and started entering new commands. Let's tweak the scenario a bit so it leads her to the right path more directly. It's fairly obvious she just... needs... another push to get there, and - Here we go! Try this on for size!

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Alright, this was sure to do it! Kukuku, skintight leather from neck to ankle, hugging her body like a second skin. High pointed heels, a whip in her hands, Lum didn't quite know what a dominatrix was but she liked the way this made her feel! Surely Darling couldn't say no to this!

He walked up to her, took a look, gave her a thumbs up and said "Not my cup of tea, try something like - Oh! Shinobu~ I love, love, love your new loo~ook!"

Shinobu?! What was she doing here! She'd not been in any of the previous scenarios, it had always been some randomly generated girl! Was the program starting to mess with her now by introducing his ex? Lum whirled around to look and saw that plain, ordinary human girl wearing one of those daft harem outfits.

Harem. Harem. Harem. Harem! Darling's use of the word had put a little bit of a Pavlovian trigger in Lum's mind, except in reverse. Imagine that, instead of feeding the dogs while ringing a bell, Pavlov had instead sprayed them with funny smelling water. Or given them an injection. Every time a bell had rung! Lum had created that kind of negative connotation with the word. Harem! That's why she'd not even tried that dumb outfit yet!

"You look super sexy like this, Shinobu~" Ataru continued. "I'd fall for any girl dressed like a harem -"

"Darling! You idiot!" Lum yelled, trying and failing once again to shock him, and having to content herself by dumping a bin on his head and using a stick to smack it. Oh! Wait a minute! She also had a whip...

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The equipment was all shockproof. When dealing with Lum, that's the first thing you do to make things safe. If she gets emotional, she tends to shock things. Which does break most things. However...

Once, on Earth, it was advertised that brick homes were fireproof. Brick doesn't catch fire the way that other building materials do, right? True! But do you know what can catch fire? Furniture. Clothing. The more that Oyuki tried to push Lum into the harem plan, and acknowledging how much her Darling wanted a harem, the worse the electricity in the air got. Which wouldn't be a problem... Except that Oyuki getting annoyed at her harem avoidance wound up causing the air to get colder and develop a bit more moisture in it.

If you're reading this then you have almost certainly got enough worldly knowledge to understand what happens when electricity hits water. Meaning that Lum's already strong bolts were now a fair bit stronger, and able to reach a bit further, and - 

"Yipe!" Benten yelped. The poor thing collapsed to the ground, twitching in pain while electricity arced around her. Oyuki calmly, coldly and collectedly grabbed Benten, and then carefully moved a metal rod in between them and Lum.

Alas, that was only dealing with part of the problem, because you see, there were a few flammable things in the room which Oyuki hadn't believed would be a problem. As such, furniture was starting to catch fire from the erratic bolts of lightning, which were obviously very much not according to plan.

Onscreen, Ataru was skipping towards a group of girls - Shinobu, Ryuunosuke, Benten and Oyuki herself - all wearing harem clothes, while Lum was chasing after him with a whip.

"Darling!" she cracked that whip, and another blast of electricity filled the air. "Get back here!"

"Uh...? Is it me, or is she kinda getting into using the whip?" Benten asked.

"Indeed," Oyuki huffed, though her facial expression did not betray any such frustration. "It seems as though we had underestimated her. She's developing entirely the wrong kink from all of this." Also, her sofa was quite ruined. "It might be better to pull the plug for now and come back later with a new plan..."

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But oh, dearest diary, I could not have known then how deeply Lum's revulsion to the idea of a harem had become, nor could I have imagined how deeply I had accidentally induced a new kink within her. There is much work to be done, and I must reflect with care on the matters coming next.

Though first, I must find some soothing salve. Whip cracks combined with electric shocks aren't exactly healthy for the skin.

Always yours,

Oyuki