Harem Quest: From Trash to King

They were halfway down the hallway when Maya's voice stopped them.

"Wait," she said, plain and sharp, and everyone froze mid-step. It was the kind of single word that carried more meaning than a paragraph. They turned back as one body, shoes scuffing the floor, breaths pulling together after the fight.

The air felt cooler in the leader's room now that the heavy fight dust had settled. Lights hummed overhead. The desk sat where it had always sat, except now it was an object with a new history.

"Didn't you know?" Maya went on, face serious. "The winning crew takes members from the losing crew. It's always been that way."

Ryan blinked, then let a slow smile creep over his face that felt more tired than amused. "Oh. Is that how it goes?"

Daniel, never one to miss a chance for drama, smacked his palm into the other like he was sealing a pact. "Ah, yeah. You're right, Maya." He puffed up with mock solemnity and then added, voice bright, "Now we pick the ones we want."

Maya didn't grin. Her mouth stayed a clean line. "The choice is on you, Ryan. You're the leader now. You decide who comes with us."

For a moment the gravity of it sat on Ryan. He had not wanted the part where people followed him because of a system prompt or a badge of victory. He wanted them to come because they chose to. But history had customs, and crews had rules. Winning meant taking responsibility. Taking responsibility sometimes meant choosing people who used to be enemies.

Leon, Daniel and Aiden disappeared out into the hallway and returned not long after with a small group of the remaining West High crew members. They came in with defeated shoulders and eyes that still burned with old loyalty.

Some looked like they wanted to fight again. Others looked like they were already halfway gone. Daniel walked ahead like a kid showing off trophies and said, "These were the only ones left. The rest ran. Sam and Kai are still here."

Ryan's private HUD blinked open for him in that quiet way only he could see. It felt intrusive in social moments, but he'd come to rely on it. A system message popped up, clean and unemotional.

[Main Quest: Select only one member out of their crew.][Sub-Quest: Choose between Sam and Kai.]

The words were short and cold. Ryan felt the weight of them like a hand on his chest. He looked at Arthur, whose back rested against the wall with arms folded and eyes closed. Arthur didn't look like he cared to be asked.

He was never loud about his opinions. He did not need to be. Ryan cleared his throat.

"Arthur," he said, keeping his voice even. "You okay if I pick Kai?"

Arthur's eyes opened a fraction. His face stayed almost the same, unreadable the way it always was. He gave a single nod, small and almost bored, as if the choice had been obvious to him all along. Ryan took that as consent.

"Then it's final," Ryan said aloud, and the room quieted. "Kai is the one we will take."

Some of the captured men shuffled away on their own. Some stayed near the desk like they were not sure where to go. Leon and Daniel herded those who were left toward the exit in a practical way that made it clear this was over.

They had a meeting place already: room 202 down the hall. That would be where the smaller, new crew gathered to decide things like sleeping arrangements, watch rotations, and how to divide the tiny spoils they had after such a night.

The walk to room 202 felt strange. It was like walking from one life into another. The campus around them had its normal noises—distant engines, a night cleaner pushing a cart—but for every step Ryan took the image of the fight kept flashing at the edges of his mind. He had a new weight in his chest. He had chosen, and choosing made things real.

When they reached room 202 it was already half-full. Daniel and Aiden were there, both taking up space with their different kinds of energy. Daniel leaned against the wall, loose and loud, tugging at the cuff of his sleeve and humming like he'd been given front-row seats at a show.

Aiden sat straighter, hands folded on his knees, the kind of quiet you notice after noise. Arthur took a chair and folded his arms, keeping his face the same flat stone it usually was.

Kai stood near the doorway. He didn't move like someone happy to be chosen. He moved like a man waiting to see if he'd been picked up for something useful or for a burden. His clothes still smelled faintly of the places he had been running from.

There was a bruise already blooming on his cheek from the earlier exchange. He held himself with the kind of tension that comes from having been punished and not trusting mercy.

Ryan let the silence hang for a breath, feeling the eyes on him. They were not all respectful. Some were curious. A few were angry. Some were scared. He felt the responsibility like an ache.

He stepped forward, clearing his throat the way a teacher does before asking a question he already knows the answer to. "Guys," he said, voice steady. "Do you want to join us?"

He let the question breathe for a second. He did not want to force anyone. He wanted them to make the same choice he had chosen for Kai: to stand because they wanted to, not because a rule or a system said so.

Daniel was the first to answer, before anyone else could find the words. He grinned, brightness as constant as ever, and actually climbed up, looping an arm around Ryan's neck in the stupid, affectionate way he had.

"Yes, Ryan, of course we're friends," he said. His voice got that cheesy, overearnest tone that made everyone within earshot smile despite everything. "Also Aiden's joining too. He's being forced by me." He punched his own palm as if that settled it.