Harem of Side Characters [Rewrite]

Saki Yamashita - Like in an RPG

"Saki! Wait up!"

"Stop following me!"

"No! If you're feeling down, it's okay to talk about it!" Four girls wander the halls of the ship.

"Nanami is right. Life is too short to spend on negative emotions like this."

"I know that! I just want to cry alone!" Saki continues to walk, furiously wiping the tears away from her face.

"There's clearly a lot more going on than you just wanting to cry...and I want to make sure whatever it is isn't going to wind up ruining or destroying any friendships in the process."

"I'm not destroying anything! It's not me!"

"That's not what I'm saying, Saki...but Haruka just wanted to have fun with us, and all of us were okay with it. You normally love the idea of someone joining our games, why was she an exception?"

"I...I don't have to explain anything to you!"

"No, you don't. But I'd really appreciate it if you did."

"...I...I don't think my charisma is high enough to get it out in a way that will make sense. It was just...the one thing I thought I had over everyone else...Was I mean? Probably. But you're on my side, right?"

"Why do there have to be sides? Why can't we just go back, apologize to Haruka for yelling at her, and then keep playing? You were really looking forward to this, weren't you? Something like this shouldn't get in the way of that."

"You think I'm the one who should apologize!?" Morofuji flinches at the angry tone.

"Not for getting upset, of course not. But you just yelled at someone who just sat there and took it. When you said no, it was obvious Haruka gave up on playing entirely, so I don't understand why you're acting like this all of a sudden." Yabu answers.

"It's a free country! I can cry if I want and I don't have to explain myself!"

"You're not understanding, Saki. It's fine to cry, but not when it's going to hurt other-"

"Sorry, Nanami. I think I might know what's going on here." Surprisingly, Manabe was the one who cut off Yabu.

"What could you possibly know about me?" Saki snaps.

"You're afraid. Afraid of being abandoned."

"Wha-...I...I have no idea what you're talking about!" Saki tries to deny.

"So I hit the mark."

"You didn't hit anything! Stop following me!"

"Haruka is very similar to you. She has a very eccentric personality similar to your own, similar interests...hell, she even has a nickname for that guy like you do. You obviously think that she'll replace you or something, but I highly doubt that's going to happen no matter how similar you guys are." Manabe crosses her arms.

"I'm...not admitting anything, but...I'm flattered you three have followed me this far. However...I can't agree with your claim." Saki let's out a sigh. "You are clearly less versed in the world of RPGs than I am, so let me do a bit of explaining. In an RPG, there's usually a set amount of party members you can bring into battle, four is the most common number. However, you get a lot more than four party members during the span of the whole game. So when you get a new character that does the same role as an older character, you will most likely end up replacing them because newer characters usually have better stats. That means that the older character you replaced would just rot in your reserve party, and eventually you forget about them entirely." Saki finally stops walking, and turns to face the other three girls.