Chapter 202: Phase Three of Special Training
The atmosphere in the villa fell into a brief silence before Rias finally declared, "The third phase of special training will last half a month. For the remaining month, we must stay at the academy and be ready for notifications at any time."
"If you don't want to participate in the special training, you can continue self-training during this period or focus on your studies. That way, catching up on missed coursework will be easier when we return."
Everyone exchanged glances and nodded silently.
Rias's meaning was clear: the third phase of training involved dual cultivation with Haruto. If anyone couldn't overcome their mental barriers, she wouldn't force them.
In reality, only Koneko and Akeno were struggling with the decision.
Yuuma and the other two were practically itching to drag Haruto into the bedroom and start cultivating right away. Half a month of abstinence had left them, from the inside out, from body to soul, desperately yearning for Haruto's affection.
Asia had always admired Haruto deeply and was completely willing to offer her slender yet curvaceous body to him.
He had saved her from Freed, given her a place to belong, and he was handsome, well-built, and powerful...
Aside from his tendency to fool around with women, he was practically the golden-haired little nun's dream love interest.
However, considering that the President and so many other girls who came before her didn't mind Haruto having other women around, Asia felt she shouldn't mind either.
It wasn't that the girls didn't mind, but rather they knew minding would be pointless.
Haruto had never hidden his intention to maintain a harem. To put it bluntly, he'd even organized them into categories.
There were girls who considered leaving and cutting ties, but Haruto never stopped them.
He only had one requirement: while involved with him, they couldn't be intimate with other men, and once they left, they could never return.
The reality was that no matter how conflicted a woman felt, after careful consideration, none could bring themselves to actually leave Haruto.
It wasn't just because of his dual cultivation abilities. Upon reflection, they realized that aside from having too many women, Haruto surpassed most other men in every other aspect.
As for men who were equally or more exceptional than Haruto - they did exist, but such men wouldn't be interested in them anyway, and they'd likely have plenty of women around them too.
Here, "exceptional" referred to comprehensive attributes: potential, strength, appearance, personality, behavior, moral character, and so on.
Haruto considered himself not necessarily the absolute best, but certainly well above average.
Especially in terms of strength, potential, and appearance - so far, he hadn't met his match among his peers.
Returning to the main topic, while Asia was willing, her abilities were still somewhat lacking. She could only leave the living room with a disappointed expression to continue practicing magic in the open space outside the villa.
Yuuto Kiba followed closely behind. Before transforming back into her female form, the third phase of special training had nothing to do with her.
She didn't need to achieve a sexy body like Rias or Akeno's, but at minimum needed a neutral-to-feminine form with the appropriate slit below to dual cultivate with Haruto.
Watching Rias take Asia and Yuuto outside for training, Haruto glanced at the white-haired loli and the big-breasted ponytailed beauty with narrowed eyes.
Seeing both of them lost in thought, he didn't say much - there was still plenty of time for them to think things through.
"Yuuma, Mittelt, Warna - which of you three wants to go first?"
Having dual cultivated with Rias every day for the past half month, while the effects were good and the red-haired beauty's demonic body was incredibly enticing, well... men will be men.
They always crave novelty. After half a month without intimate contact with other types of beauties, Haruto was feeling quite restless.
Although Mittelt and Kalawarna were also eager to get close to Haruto, Yuuma had always been the decision-maker among the three of them, so both instinctively looked to her first.
Yuuma didn't bother with pleasantries, licking her sexy red lips as she smiled and said, "Since this is special training, I assume it's counted by days. Until tomorrow, Haruto belongs to me."
Haruto chuckled, "This time you can't call for backup. I hope you won't run away halfway through."
Since this was special training aimed at breaking through bottlenecks, he didn't plan to hold back this time.
Yuuma's sexy legs instinctively squeezed together, her delicate Flower Path contracting as sticky Honey Nectar began to secrete. Her sensitive, charming body was already preparing for cultivation.
As Haruto left with Yuuma - whose face was innocent but body was lewd - the expressions of the four remaining in the living room became animated again.
Mittelt clicked her tongue and said, "Haruto's abilities are so strong, we could clearly do it together... This way we have to wait another day..."
Kalawarna looked down at her and said, "Wait, when was it decided you'd be second?"
"Huh?!"
Mittelt's small mouth opened slightly, revealing sharp canine teeth, making her look like a bristling kitten.
"Warna, you're never usually this eager. Are you trying to compete with me now?"
The blue-haired mature beauty's face flushed, her tall and curvaceous body twisting slightly. "Who says I'm not eager? Besides, I've endured for half a month this time."
Compared to Mittelt's petite, loli-like figure, her body craved affection even more. Had Rias not been sleeping with Haruto every night these past days, she might have already attempted a nighttime visit to Haruto.
"Let's duel!" Mittelt took half a step back, glaring fiercely yet adorably at Kalawarna. "Whoever wins goes first!"
The blue-haired mature beauty adopted a serious expression, assuming a stance. "Fine!"
The two locked eyes, their beautiful pupils seemingly sparking with electricity.
"Scissors..."
"Rock..."
"Paper!"
Looking at Kalawarna's fair, slender hand, then at her own small fist, Mittelt's entire demeanor instantly darkened.
"I actually... lost..."
Kalawarna showed a motherly smile, comfortingly patting Mittelt's small head while secretly marveling at how effective this 'dueling' method learned from Haruto was.
Though somewhat childish, it worked perfectly against Mittelt.
Annoyed, Mittelt swatted away Kalawarna's hand, trying to vent her frustration with small punches, but the place she struck happened to be the blue-haired mature beauty's remarkably elastic, rounded buttocks.
The strong rebound made the cute, tsundere canine-toothed girl even angrier.
"I don't know how you managed to develop such a shameless figure..."
"Are you jealous?" Kalawarna blinked, deliberately provoking.
Mittelt huffily turned her head away. "Absolutely not!"
While the two were causing a commotion, Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou exchanged glances before heading toward their respective rooms."
If forced to choose between willing and unwilling, they would undoubtedly choose willing.
As previously mentioned, aside from his complicated relationships with women, Haruto was practically an ideal partner.
Especially after the incident with Azazel, when Haruto disregarded his own safety to forcibly activate Juggernaut Drive, they had completely lost any reservations.
Yet when it came to proactively expressing their willingness... they found themselves inexplicably unable to say the words.
This situation persisted for a week. Even as Yuuma and the other two were preparing for their third round, they still couldn't take that step.
...
During dinner, Rias suddenly announced, "Yuuma, you three have reached S-rank. During special training, you're forbidden from doing it with Haruto."
"Eh?!"
Before Yuuma could respond, Mittelt couldn't help but protest, only to be silenced by a look from Yuuma.
Yuuma meaningfully glanced at the visibly distracted Koneko and Akeno, then cooperatively nodded.
"Understood, President. In that case, can we end the special training early?"
Yuuma said with a mischievous smile, "After all, no one else is going to undergo the third phase of training anyway."
Noticing how Akeno and Koneko had suddenly frozen, Rias sighed inwardly. They clearly wanted to, so why couldn't they just say it?
"Yes, we'll rest tomorrow. The day after tomorrow..."
"Rias... President," Haruto interrupted. "Let's continue. The special training isn't over yet."
After saying this, he turned to look at Akeno and Koneko. "Akeno-senpai, and Koneko too, I want to dual cultivate with you... no, I like you, I want to hold you. Are you willing?"
Haruto wasn't foolish. Though he wouldn't claim to fully understand women's hearts, after a week together, he had roughly grasped Koneko and Akeno's feelings.
The only thing that might still be holding them back from speaking up was likely maidenly reserve and anticipation.
Being confessed to by Haruto in front of everyone, the two were first surprised, then filled with joy and bashfulness.
Logically, whoever took the initiative shouldn't matter, but a maiden's heart works in mysterious ways.
Almost without any hesitation, the two firmly said, "I'm willing."
This was Haruto's first time being so proactive and straightforward about expressing his feelings, and he found himself feeling uncharacteristically shy.
He subconsciously touched the tip of his nose, momentarily unsure what to say next.