Kazuya stirred awake, his eyes flickering briefly as he adjusted to the light.  At the moment, he found himself lounging on one of the couches in the massive living room, blanket draped over him up to the neck, and staring up at the chandeliers and interior lights which were currently on.  That made him ponder as to just how long he was out of it when he passed out in the front lobby earlier.  Was he unconscious for an hour?  Two hours?  Longer even?

‘I hope it wasn’t too long,’ thought Kazuya. ‘I can only imagine how worried some of the others probably were this whole time.  Satellizer most definitely comes first on that spectrum of “most worried,” so I hope the others have calmed her down.’

Ironically enough, as Kazuya slowly leaned up to get his bearings, he turned to his left to see none other than Satellizer L. Bridget, napping peacefully by his side with her left arm draped over Kazuya’s torso with her head gently pressed against his side.  Her slow, deep breathing indicated that she was out like a light, probably having stayed by Kazuya’s bedside for a considerable amount of time up to this point.

Kazuya instinctively smiled in response to the sight before him, given how at peace Satellizer appeared to be as she rested there.  A part of him didn’t want to wake her up, but he figured that whether he outright notified her or tried to slink away from the couch, he would end up startling and alerting her in the process.  So he might as well get it over with, in order for him to get up and out of bed (or more specifically, off the couch).

“Satellizer,” whispered Kazuya.  The Pandora groaned slightly and stirred somewhat, but still remained stationary.  Kazuya sighed before continuing further, hoping things wouldn’t get out of hand quickly, given that it was Satellizer L. Bridget he was dealing with here - a young woman who was downright smitten with the young man and might overreact at the sight of him coming to.

“Satellizer,” said Kazuya a tad bit louder, reaching his left arm out and gently brushing Satellizer’s golden locks with his hand.  The action apparently was pleasing to Satellizer, given the instinctive moan she hummed as she stirred a bit more in response.

‘Her reactions are rather adorable,’ thought Kazuya with a grin.  Part of him wanted to simply give up and continue to lay there, partly so Satellizer could simply lay there and dream whatever it was she was dreaming while nestled up to her “One,” which Kazuya was extremely certain that the buxom, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, British beauty saw him as by now.  Even so, it was best to get out of bed so that the others needn’t worry about Kazuya’s overall state of health by this point.

Fortunately, Kazuya had done enough to awaken the Pandora lying next to him, as Satellizer slowly lifted her head and gazed upon the young man on the couch whom she was more-or-less nestled right up against.  As she looked into his eyes, Satellizer slowly blinked a few times, getting the dreary slumber out of her own eyes, before her eyes went wide open and she stared intently at the young man within arm’s reach of her.

“K-Kazuya?” asked Satellizer in a somewhat nervous tone of voice.

“Yeah, it’s me,” whispered the young man with a grin.

“Oh, Kazuya!” declared Satellizer as she instinctively shot up into a seated position and reached out with both arms, hoisting Kazuya out of the couch and straight towards her massive chest, burying his head deep within her bosom.

“I…I was so worried,” began Satellizer as she pressed Kazuya deeper and deeper within her cleavage.  While the sensation was most certainly pleasurable to say the least (both the softness of her generous mounds and the heavenly aroma of her person), it was getting a little difficult to breathe, given how firmly Kazuya was being pressed into her chest.  Kazuya instinctively began patting the sides of Satellizer’s torso, partly to comfort her, but increasingly as means to beseech her to loosen her grip, lest she inadvertently smother him to the point he passed out once more.

“It’s okay, Satellizer,” muffled Kazuya the best he could, given that he was face-first in Satellizer’s heavenly decolletage at the moment.  Fortunately, the two of them weren’t alone in the room.

“Alright now, Satellizer,” said another voice.  “I get that you’re beyond happy to see our Kazuya awake and well, but please let up a bit before you smother the poor guy into unconsciousness, will ya?”

Kazuya felt the pressure begin to let up as he was extricated from Satellizer’s embrace.  Letting his eyes adjust to the sudden increase in lighting (having just been smothered in titflesh), he saw Satellizer being gently pulled back by Elizabeth (who spoke earlier) and Rana, each one of them holding her by an arm.  As he looked around the room, he also spotted Kazuha, Chiffon, Roxanne, Yu-Mi, and Elize also in the same room, all of them intently focused on the young man.

As he took a few deep breaths, Kazuya looked around and began to speak once more.

“I’m…I’m really sorry about what happened earlier,” said Kazuya.

“Why in the world would you feel the need to apologize, Kazuya?” asked Chiffon.

“For making you all worry like that,” Kazuya continued.  “I honestly wasn’t planning on passing out like I did earlier, I swear.  It was just…well…it was all very sudden and a whole lot to take in from my point of view, that’s all.  Again, I’m really sorry about all th-”

Kazuya was cut off by a large index finger being placed over his lips.  The index finger in this case belonged to Kazuha, herself leaning over and silencing her little brother with an endearing smile as she gazed upon him.

“Oh Kazuya,” she sighed, “you really have a bad habit of apologizing so often, even when it’s over something that isn’t your fault, you know that?  Nobody here faults or blames you in the slightest for what happened.  While I admit that it certainly took all of us by surprise, not a single one of us faults you for the reaction you ended up having.  We’re just relieved that no permanent or long-term damage resulted from it.  Some of us feared that you were going to enter into a deep coma and not wake for days…or even longer.”

“And again, I’m sorry for making you all worry like that,” replied Kazuya.  “It just felt like an avalanche of responsibility being piled onto me all at once and I just…I just couldn’t fully process or cope with it, you know?  I’m sorry if I’m sounding like a whiner or something when I say this, I honestly don’t mean to, it’s just how I honestly feel about this whole thing.”

“Kazuya,” said Yu-Mi, “listen closely to what I’m going to tell you:  You have absolutely NOTHING to apologize for regarding these new developments, understand?  What you’re going through with this level of partnership…it’s never been done in the history of Genetics or Chevalier…ever.  I think it’s a safe assumption to say that a partnership of this size in terms of quantity…you’re undoubtedly the undisputed record holder in terms of simultaneous partners by this point.  No other Limiter has come close to accumulating nearly two dozen Pandoras as his partners.”

“I think the highest group pair-up before you came along might have been around twelve or thirteen,” added Elize.  “Fifteen tops.”

“But with all that in mind,” replied Kazuya, “I can’t help but feel like the cause of all of this.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than grateful at the idea of you all being paired up with me, assuming of course you would all even want to be paired up with me…”

“Kazuya,” interrupted Kazuha.  The young man paused in response.  Kazuha then turned to Yu-Mi and Elize, with all three looking at one another before all of them looking back at Kazuya.

“Just to clear the air on that topic of concern you have, rest assured that none of us have reservations about being partnered up with you, understand?” Kazuha declared both firmly yet gently as well.

“Honestly?” asked Kazuya, finding it all a little too good to be true.  “The seven of you that arrived earlier…not a single one of you have reservations about being partnered up with me?  Including Sister Margaret?  Or that one Pandora…what was her name?  Miss Lee, I think?  She doesn’t even KNOW me, and now all of a sudden she’s going to be partnered up with me?”

“Tell you what, Kazuya,” replied Kazuha, “what say you hear it ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’ as the old saying goes?”  She then gestured for Yu-Mi and Elize to go fetch the other members from the recently arrived group of seven to come see Kazuya for themselves.

Of course, with that being the case, since word was now out that Kazuya had awoken now from his shock-induced slumber, it now meant that ALL of his Pandoras would gather in the living room in order to see for themselves that their collective partner was indeed awake and in good spirits.  After a minute or so, the entire living room was now full of all of Kazuya’s (now) twenty-three Pandoras, with many of them seated around on various pieces of furniture.

‘I guess I have to give the old man credit for one thing,’ thought Kazuya at the size of such a gathering.  ‘Given the kind of harem that he’s apparently planned for me, it makes sense now as to why so many of these rooms would be so spacious, especially in regards to the bedroom and the bathing area.  Lessens the chance of uncomfortable crowding and such.’

Now that ALL of his Pandoras were assembled in the living room, Kazuya now had his face-to-face conversations with the older Pandoras who had apparently become his latest add-ons.

“Look,” began Kazuya to the seven arrivals, “I know that you’re going to tell me not to feel like this is my fault for what is happening, but logically speaking, I’m at the very least indirectly responsible for all of this.  I mean, yeah, I didn’t make a literal demand that all of you become my partners or anything along those lines.  Leaving apart the whole ‘student-teacher’ dynamic being jeopardized, for all I know at least SOME of you might already be partnered up with other Limiters.”

“Well, Kazuya,” replied Violet, “if I may interject on that point, odd as it may be to hear this, none of us were partnered up to another Limiter up to this point.  We all DID have partnerships with Limiters in the past, but those ended up being mainly professional in their nature.  I suppose you could say that we ended up being ‘married to our work,’ as cliche a notion as that might sound, there are no other Limiters you need to worry about or feel the compulsion to apologize for ‘stealing us away,’ as you’re probably thinking to be the case.”

“Really?” asked Kazuya.  “None of you were partnered up prior to being paired up with me?”

“If I remember it right,” began Margaret, “Miss Lee was partnered up about two years back, though she decided to respectfully bow out of the arrangement, keeping her partnership strictly professional.  As for Miss Kim, Miss Schmitz, Miss Bridget, Miss Aoi, and Miss Evans, it’s like you just heard…they simply became too focused on their work here at West Genetics to pursue romantic relationships once they graduated from Genetics into Chevalier.  From what I recall, they all left on amicable terms with their former partners with no bad blood between them.”

“And you, Sister Margaret?” asked Kazuya.  “Not to sound intrusive or disrespectful when I say this, but…were you HONESTLY okay with this arrangement?  Being paired up with me like this?  Were you even given a choice in the matter?  Were ANY of you?”

There was a momentary pause before Margaret spoke up once more.

“The higher-ups within Chevalier felt it best that we-”

“By ‘higher-ups,’ you mean Gengo Aoi, correct?” Kazuya interrupted.

“Kazuya!” interjected Kazuha, finding the young man’s statement to be somewhat rude.

“Now now, Kazuha,” replied Margaret as she raised a hand to keep Kazuha from butting in.  “We can’t be too hard on him, he is a sharp young man, after all.”  Margaret took a deep breath before turning back towards Kazuya.

“Frankly speaking, Kazuya, the answer is yes.  Your grandfather, Chairman Gengo Aoi felt it best that all of us become paired up with you as your prospective partners.  While many of us DID have reservations and raised objections over the initial idea, in the end, he had made his decision on the matter.”

“So in other words, he basically forced all of you into it, right?” replied Kazuya.  “Maybe he presented it as a choice for you, or as some kind of suggestion rather than a command, but if I know the old man like I’m pretty sure I do, then I’m guessing that the end result would be that saying ‘no thank you’ to him simply wasn’t an option.  If any of you wished to respectfully decline, he would have ORDERED you to do it, and since this is a military establishment as much as it is an academic one, and since he’s basically the top of the food chain in terms of rank, you probably had no choice but to go along with it, am I right?”

Another period of momentary silence pretty much told Kazuya all he needed to know, which in turn made the young man hang his head somewhat, not in shame so much as in angst and frustration.

‘Damn you, old man,’ thought Kazuya at this revelation.  ‘Is this all a game to you?  What are you playing at with this little setup anyway?  Getting some kind of sick satisfaction out of this?  Want to live vicariously through your grandson and have wet dreams about me being some kind of playboy gigolo, is that it?’

“Kazuya, listen,” said Yu-Mi in a firm tone of voice.  The young man lifted his head up and turned to face her.

“I will admit that you ARE right to some extent on this matter,” began the buxom Korean Pandora.  “Yes, Chairman Aoi is the highest authority here at West Genetics, most likely the highest authority within all of Chevalier for that matter.  And as such, his word carries a LOT of weight behind it.  But there’s something that YOU should be cognizant of as well.”

“That being?” asked Kazuya.

“The chairman’s judgment is particularly sound, Kazuya.  While he may have tendencies that border on those of a megalomaniac or some kind of power-hungry narcissist, he actually has remarkable restraint and profound insight in his way of thinking and planning.  From the early Nova Clashes to now, his word and his decisions have saved numerous lives and helped build Chevalier and Genetics into the organizations that they are today.  If not for him, human civilization would most likely either be extinct or driven back to prehistoric times, with pockets of survivors living in caves or in the deepest recesses of underground caverns to avoid the Nova whenever they showed up the next time.  So while you may think of his methodology as somewhat underhanded or even malicious, please try to understand that the vast majority of us defer to Gengo Aoi’s decision making for this one simple reason:  He makes the right call.”

“He ALWAYS makes the right call?” countered Kazuya.

“Whenever it came to the big, important, ‘life and death’ level kinds of decisions, yeah, pretty much,” replied Elize in a ‘matter of fact’ tone in her voice.

“And besides,” added Margaret.

“Yes?” asked Kazuya as he turned to her.

“If any of us were REALLY against the idea of being partnered up with you, I’m pretty sure that we would sooner suffer time in the brig or expulsion, demotion, or whatever other penalty would be doled out for refusing to pair up with you.  While it may have been strongly suggested that we all partner up with you, none of us had guns to our heads or had our friends or family members threatened like some kind of hostage situation.  In the end, we all decided to go along with this, as odd and improbable as it may sound.”

“So please do us a favor and stop slandering the chairman’s name, will you?” shot back Su-Na, doing her best to not sound vitriolic.

“Su-Na!” replied Violet in the same tone as Kazuha spoke to Kazuya moments earlier.

“Sorry, but as somebody who greatly respects and admires the chairman, I don’t like to see or hear somebody slander his name, especially when it’s a member of his own family to boot.  I know we’ve just met and all, and I’m not entirely sure what your family history is between you and your grandfather, but I’m going to have to insist that you show the man at least a little respect for all that he’s done…not just for Chevalier, but the entire human race as well.”

Kazuya simply stood there in stunned silence for a moment, not expecting one of these newly arrived Pandoras to take a rather hard-lined position with him over the topic of his grandfather.  Whoever this Su-Na Lee was, she obviously had such a deep connection with Gengo that she wouldn’t take any criticism against him, however slight, without responding in kind, no matter who said it.  While her features were rather stern (even cold, from Kazuya’s viewpoint), she didn’t appear outright malicious towards the young man.

‘Makes sense, I guess,’ thought Kazuya in reflection.  ‘If she REALLY hated the idea of being paired up with me, she could have very well refused outright and accepted the consequences for doing so.  But even with all that in mind, I can’t help but feel like she’s doing this out of pure loyalty and devotion to the old man and nothing more.  Hell, she’d probably jump at the chance to be partnered up with him instead if he so offered it to her.  Which reminds me…’

“Listen,” began Kazuya once more, “I basically get the situation as it stands, more or less.  And I won’t make waves about it…for the time being anyway.  But I just want to ask you all this one question…well, the seven of you who arrived, I mean, but I suppose it could be asked to literally ALL of you gathered here now as well.”

All twenty-three Pandoras focused on Kazuya in silence as the young man prepared his question.

“Are you HONESTLY okay with the idea of sharing me with so many other women?  Doesn’t that frustrate or piss you off even a little bit?  Wouldn’t you want to be with someone whom you could have all to yourself…or at least better your odds when there isn’t so much competition like this?” asked Kazuya.

“Well, Kazuya,” said Violet, “technically, that was three questions, not one.”

“Mathematical inconsistencies aside,” Kazuya grumbled, “you get the broader point I’m making, right?  Don’t you think an arrangement like this is practically DOOMED for failure sooner or later?  I don’t want to accumulate an army of girlfriends or lovers as if they were trophies to hang on a wall and nothing else.  I’m not so vain as to see women as proverbial ‘notches on my belt’ to collect and brag about.  If I’m going to partner up with someone…I…I’d want it to be for love.”  Whether he planned it or not, that last part got several of the young Pandoras’ hearts to melt just a little bit, given the conviction in his voice.

“But I’m only one man,” continued Kazuya, “and I can’t think of a single man in all of human history who can have meaningful, heartfelt, honest relationships with nearly two dozen women and not eventually push some aside in the process.  It’s a simple matter of time allocation, and there isn’t enough time doled out per Pandora to make such lasting relations work…and I don’t want to put anybody here through that.  I’m not trying to beat a dead horse here, I’m just stating this now in front of you all because I don’t want to put anybody here through that kind of heartache if and/or when it eventually arrives.”

“Well, he certainly is a little charmer, isn’t he?” stated Elize with a grin.

“I’m not saying this to try and smooth-talk anybody here into falling for me,” countered Kazuya.  “I’m not doing this to try and get into anybody’s pants.  I’m just trying to be considerate to all of you involved in this because I don’t want any of you getting roped into a relationship where you find yourselves unhappily bound to me like I’m some kind of proverbial ball-and-chain, that’s all.  Hell, if need be, I’ll directly beseech the higher-ups that I want the partnership dissolved so that those of you who may regret being partnered up with me need no longer be obligated to do so.  That sounds fair, right?”

“Kazuya,” began Kazuha, “I get what you’re trying to do here, but you needn’t overthink this, understand?  We - and do mean ALL of us Pandoras here - we all trust in Grandfather’s judgment on this.  If he’s made the call for this arrangement, then there’s a good reason behind it.  All that we ask of you in turn is to stop dwelling on this and seeing yourself as some kind of problem or burden that we’re being forced to shoulder, okay?  Is it REALLY that hard of a concept to stomach that we’re ALL interested in you?”

“Twenty-three separate women?  With the same guy?  At the same time?  AND willing to share?  Yeah, that kinda sounds a bit over-the-top to me, straight out of some kind of erotic harem-themed manga or anime, I’d say,” Kazuya stated rather bluntly.

“Admittedly, it DOES sound a bit odd when you put it like that,” replied Amelia, “but this is the world in which we live, Kazuya.  There are only so many Limiters to go around, so for the sake of maximizing the combat effectiveness and fighting capabilities of Pandoras, these types of relationships are the figurative toll to pay.  If the ratio between Pandoras and Limiters became closer to the ideal 1-to-1, then sure, you’d be making an extremely valid point.  But that simply isn’t where we are at the moment, and we aren’t projected to reach that ratio for probably another generation or so, even with the advances in compatibility rates among Limiters over the past few decades.”

“Exactly,” added Margaret, “so bearing all that in mind, outcomes like these are more-or-less the norm between Pandoras and LImiters.  While admittedly, your specific case is certainly an outlier that sticks out by far, it’s just a rarer example of the same basic concept.  So please, dear Kazuya, in the name of all that is good and holy, please stop burdening yourself with needless guilt over this whole matter.”

There was another pause as Kazuya decided action needed to be taken.

“Alright,” said the young man, which somewhat surprised all the Pandoras that he had let up with his stubborn streak over the ever-growing harem he was in the center of.

“Wait, really?” asked Elize, surprised that the young man finally relented.

“I won’t make waves about this anymore,” Kazuya continued, “at least not for a good long while.  I only ask for a favor, specifically to you, Sister Margaret.”

“Me?” asked the headmistress in mild surprise.

“Given your position here at West Genetics, assuming you still retain it unless Gengo stripped it from you…” Kazuya paused, letting Margaret inform him if that was indeed the case.

“Chairman Aoi informed me that my rank is still in place as administrative head here at West Genetics, though my workload is supposedly going to be lessened substantially in the coming days now that I am to be paired up with you, Kazuya,” replied Margaret.  “In any case, please continue.”

“Well, that being the case,” said Kazuya, “I would like you to do something for me then if it’s not unreasonable.”

“Yes?”

“I want you to notify the chairman that I would like a one-on-one meeting with him at the first availability.  Hopefully, he won’t see himself as too busy and shirk it off without a second thought.  I know he may very well ignore it and pull rank, but at the very least, I want to have some words with him as soon as possible,” Kazuya stated firmly but also calmly.  In response, Margaret couldn’t help but snort a chuckle in response before replying.

“Oh, Kazuya,” she said.  “I don’t think you’ll have to worry too much on that matter.  Given that this is your grandfather we’re talking about, I imagine that he’ll only be too eager to want a private audience with you, given that YOU are the one who wants to initiate it.  I can call him right now and I imagine that he’ll give you a one-on-one chat within the next forty-eight hours at the absolute latest.”

“Please do, ma’am,” replied Kazuya politely.  “The sooner the better.  I’ve been meaning to have some words with him for quite some time now.”

“Very well then, Kazuya,” said Margaret as she began to take her leave, but not before addressing her fellow faculty Pandoras.  “Well then, ladies, please proceed to make yourselves comfortable in your new accommodations.  I’ll go make the call and then join you shortly in unpacking and getting settled in.  And Kazuya?”

“Ma’am?” the young man asked.

“Like we’ve been telling you before, don’t go blaming yourself for this arrangement, and don’t judge your grandfather too harshly for his decision-making.  He really does mean well -  especially for you I believe - even if his methodology is a bit confusing at times.”  And with that, Margaret made her way out the room to make the call.

That left Kazuya with the remaining twenty-two Pandoras, with the student-Pandoras giving the older Pandoras the layout to the complex and the various rooms and creature comforts throughout the building.  While all that was going on, Kazuya decided to retire to the restroom, wanting a little time to himself (as well as needing to genuinely relieve himself at the moment).

‘Just you wait, old man,’ thought Kazuya.  ‘You and I have a LOT to discuss.’