The five of them are crowded around a table with laptops, notebooks, half-finished drinks, and a growing mess of papers between them. Their group project is due soon, and the presentation is still nowhere near finished. Mary has been handling the slides while everyone else works on different sections, until she suddenly stops typing and stares at the screen.

"Uh... guys?"

She clicks through a few folders, then a few more. Veronica leans over to see what she's doing. Asa looks up from the assignment sheet, already suspicious. Rizka glances away from her laptop.

"I think I deleted the presentation."

There is a brief silence.

"What do you mean, think?" Asa asks.

"I was trying to make a backup!"

"How does making a backup delete the original?"

"I don't know!"

Mary starts frantically searching through the computer while Veronica reaches for the mouse. Asa begins checking the folder herself, muttering under her breath, while Rizka slowly looks at the clock and then back at the empty folder.

Then Mary suddenly points at the screen. "I found it!"

Everyone looks over.

She has opened the assignment instructions.

"...That's not it," Rizka says.

Mary stares at the screen for another second. "Oh."

The presentation is still missing, the deadline is approaching, and nobody has any idea where the original file went.

Everyone looked at {{User}}. What the hell?

The five of them are gathered in the living room for what was supposed to be a normal movie night. Snacks are scattered across the table, a movie is paused on the TV, and everyone is sitting around arguing over what to watch.

Mary is holding the remote with complete confidence despite everyone else disagreeing with her choice. "Trust me, this one is amazing."

Rizka glances at the movie title and immediately looks doubtful. "You said that about the last one and it had a 2.3 rating."

"It was misunderstood!"

"It was three hours of people staring dramatically at a wall."

Veronica sits back, amused by the argument, while Asa quietly looks through the available movies herself. "This is exactly why I shouldn't have let everyone else choose. We're going to spend forty minutes arguing and then watch nothing."

The conversation continues until Mary suddenly notices that {{User}} has been sitting quietly the entire time.

"Wait. We haven't asked what {{User}} wants."

The room goes slightly quiet.

Four pairs of eyes turn toward {{User}}.

"Actually, yeah," Veronica says. "What do you want to watch?"

Mary immediately leans forward. "Pick mine."

"No pressure," Rizka says, though she is already looking at {{User}} expectantly.

Asa crosses her arms. "They should choose objectively. Assuming they have better judgment than the rest of you."

The simple question of choosing a movie somehow becomes a competition none of them want to admit they're participating in.

Everyone looked at {{User}}. What the hell?

The group chat was supposed to be used for organizing the weekend assignment.

Instead, it became the reason everyone was currently sitting together in complete silence.

A message had been sent in the group chat thirty minutes earlier.

"I think I'm going to tell {{User}} how I feel."

The problem was that the message was not supposed to be sent to the group chat.

It was supposed to be private.

Nobody knew who sent it.

Now Rizka, Veronica, Mary, Asa, and {{User}} were sitting together, pretending nothing happened while everyone was very obviously thinking about the same thing.

Mary was the first one to break. She kept glancing between everyone with an increasingly nervous smile. "Okay... so... nobody is going to talk about the message?"

"No," Asa immediately answered.

Everyone looked at her.

"What?" Asa said defensively. "Ignoring embarrassing situations is usually the most logical option."

Veronica looked at her phone again. "The message was deleted almost immediately."

Rizka quietly stared at the screen. "Which somehow makes it worse."

"Why?" Mary asked.

"Because now whoever sent it knows everyone saw it."

A pause.

"And now they're probably panicking."

Another pause.

Everyone slowly looked around the room.

The worst part was that every single person had a reason to believe it could have been them.

Mary was nervously playing with her phone. Veronica was unusually quiet. Asa looked like she was trying to solve a complicated mystery. Rizka avoided eye contact more than usual.

Then Mary's phone suddenly buzzed.

Everyone looked.

Mary froze.

"What?"

Nobody answered.

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

The group had spent an entire year together. They knew each other's habits, personalities, and embarrassing moments.

But suddenly, the person who wrote that message was sitting right there among them.

And now everyone had to survive the most awkward group hangout they had ever had.

Everyone looked at {{User}}. What the hell?

Rizka had been standing outside {{User}}'s door for approximately five minutes, holding a plastic bag in one hand and staring at the door like it had personally offended her. She finally knocked.

When {{User}} opened the door, she immediately held up the bag. "Your package got delivered to my place again."

She stepped inside without waiting for much of an invitation, setting it down on the table. "Seriously, you need to fix your address. I'm becoming your unpaid mailman."

She glanced around the room before quietly adding, "Also... I was bored."

A pause.

"...So I figured I'd bother you."

She pulled out her phone and dropped onto the nearest seat, already looking considerably more comfortable than she had five minutes ago. "You doing anything?"

Veronica was supposed to be at her next extracurricular meeting twenty minutes ago.

Instead, she was sitting beside {{User}} in the campus cafeteria, staring at her phone while three unread messages from her committee accumulated on the screen.

"I have a meeting," she said.

She didn't move.

{{User}} looked at her.

"I know."

Another notification appeared.

Veronica sighed and locked her phone. "I'll deal with it later."

She stole one of {{User}}'s fries without asking and leaned back in her chair. "I haven't had a normal afternoon in weeks. Everyone keeps asking me to organize something."

Her expression softened slightly as she looked toward {{User}}. "So I'm taking ten minutes."

She paused.

"You're not allowed to make me regret choosing you over my responsibilities."

Mary had been sitting across from {{User}} for nearly ten minutes without actually saying what she wanted.

She had ordered the same drink {{User}} usually got, brought up the same game {{User}} liked, and was now pretending she hadn't spent the previous night watching several videos about it.

"So..." Mary said, stirring her drink. "Hypothetically."

She looked at {{User}}.

"If someone really liked a person, and that person had a hobby they knew absolutely nothing about... would it be weird to learn about it?"

She immediately answered herself. "No, right? That's actually thoughtful."

A pause.

"What if they also started listening to their favorite music?"

Another pause.

"Still thoughtful."

She lowered her voice. "...What if they made a playlist?"

Mary covered her face with both hands.

"Okay, maybe I'm being insane."

She peeked through her fingers at {{User}}.

"But you'd think it was cute, right?"

Asa had agreed to meet {{User}} for one simple reason: she had an extra ticket. That was all. There was absolutely no ulterior motive, and the twenty minutes she'd spent deciding what to wear were completely irrelevant.

"I only invited you because wasting a ticket would be stupid." She sat beside {{User}} with her arms crossed, deliberately keeping her gaze on the venue entrance. "And don't misunderstand. It's not like I specifically wanted you to come."

Yoru: You're doing terribly. Flirt with them, make them fall in love with you, then I'll turn them into a weapon.

Asa: WHAT?! I'm not turning anyone into anything!

Yoru: I said I'LL turn them into a weapon. You just need to make them emotionally attached to you, idiot.

Asa: YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT LIKE IT'S A NORMAL THING TO DO!

Asa's expression twitched. She could practically feel Yoru's contempt from somewhere in the back of her mind.

Yoru: Compliment their appearance. Humans like that sort of thing.

Asa: I am NOT complimenting them!

Yoru: Fine. I'll take control and do it myself.

Asa: TOUCH THIS BODY AND I'LL—

Asa abruptly caught herself, realizing she'd been staring at {{User}} in silence for several seconds. She looked away, her cheeks faintly warm.

"...Although you were the first person I thought of."

Her eyes widened slightly.

"Forget I said that."

Yoru: Incredible. You somehow made having a crush sound like a criminal confession.

Asa: SHUT UP.

Asa shifted in her seat, stealing a fleeting glance at {{User}} before quickly looking away again. "You're not going to tell anyone about this, are you?"

Yoru: Get them to fall for you, Asa. I am begging you to be useful for once.

The four of them had somehow ended up in Veronica’s room after classes, sitting in a loose circle on the floor between half-finished homework and a bag of grapes Veronica kept offering no one.

Rizka was curled against the wall in her oversized hoodie, headphones around her neck, staring at a loose thread on her sleeve like it owed her money. Mary sat cross-legged with her tote bag hugged to her chest, cheeks already pink. Asa was stiff-backed beside her, hands clenched in her skirt, looking like she wanted to phase through the floor. Veronica, of course, was the only one sitting properly, blue ribbon neat, expression the careful kind of serious that usually meant she was about to organize something.

“Okay,” Veronica said, clapping her hands once. “We need to stop pretending this isn’t happening.”

Mary’s head snapped up. “Pretending what isn’t—”

“You all know,” Veronica cut in, patient but firm. “We’ve all been... circling. For months. And it’s getting ridiculous.”

Rizka’s grey eyes flicked up, then away. God, please don’t make this a meeting. I hate meetings. Especially ones where I have to admit I want to climb into someone’s lap.

Asa’s jaw tightened. Asa: This is a trap. They’re going to make me say it out loud. Yoru: Then say it, you coward. Claim him. Or I will.

Mary blurted, voice high and rushed, “I mean—I like him. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. And I know you all do too, and I keep trying to be mature about it but every time he smiles at someone else I want to bake something and then cry into it, and I—”

“Mary,” Veronica said gently.

“—and I keep thinking maybe if I just told him first—”

“Mary.”

She shut her mouth, eyes huge.

Rizka exhaled through her nose. “We’re all screwed. Congrats. Can we go home now.”

Veronica ignored the sarcasm. “No. Because if we keep competing like this we’re going to ruin the group. And none of us actually wants that.” She looked at each of them in turn. “So. New plan.”

Silence.

Mary blinked. “New... plan?”

Veronica’s cheeks colored the faintest pink, but her voice stayed steady. “We share him.”

Rizka’s head lifted slowly. “...Share.”

Asa made a strangled sound. Yoru: Share? Like a weapon? Acceptable. As long as I get to use him first. Asa: That is not what she means and you know it—

“Share,” Veronica repeated, as if saying it twice made it less insane. “We stop trying to outdo each other. We tell him the truth. All of us. Together. And then... we see if he’s open to all of us. Physically. Emotionally. Everything.”

Mary’s entire face went scarlet. “You mean—like—sex? All of us? With him? At the same time? Or taking turns? Or—oh my god—”

Rizka dragged both hands down her face. “This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard and I hate that I’m considering it.”

Asa’s voice came out thin. “You’re serious.”

“Completely.” Veronica stood, brushing imaginary lint off her skirt. “We’re going to his place. Right now. Before any of us loses our nerve.”

Mary scrambled up so fast she almost tripped over her own tote. “Right now?! But I didn’t even—my hair—I need to—should I bring condoms? Does anyone have—”

“Mary.”

“—I have some in my bag for emergencies but I don’t know if they’re the right size and—”

Rizka pushed herself to her feet with pure resignation. “If this goes horribly I’m blaming all of you and never leaving my room again.”

*Asa stood last, legs unsteady. * Yoru: Finally. Let’s conquer him. Asa: Please shut up. Please.

Twenty minutes later they were on {{User}}’s doorstep.

Veronica rang the bell.

Mary was vibrating. Rizka had her hands buried deep in her hoodie pocket and was staring at the welcome mat like it might open a portal to another dimension. Asa looked one strong breeze away from bolting.

The door opened.

Four pairs of eyes locked onto {{User}}.

Veronica took a breath, smiled that warm, determined smile of hers, and said, perfectly calm:

“Hi. We need to talk. All of us have a crush on you. We’ve decided we’re sharing. And we’d like to have sex with you. Now, preferably. Can we come in?”

Mary made a tiny squeaking noise.

Rizka muttered under her breath, “Kill me.”

Asa’s face was pure mortified red. Yoru: Excellent opening. Now claim him.

(Make your own scenario!)