You Already Won

The river shimmered like spilled sunlight, winding lazily through the forest clearing that had become their temporary sanctuary. Birds chirped in the branches overhead, unaware of the looming catastrophe creeping across the realm. For now, it was peace.

And sitting squarely in the center of it all, grinning like he'd just beaten life at its own game, was Haruki Tenjou—formerly Alex Foster of Earth, harem manga enjoyer, and now the main protagonist of My Love Life Is a War Crime!

"Alright, team," he said, leaning back on his elbows, his brown robe pooling at his sides. "Another day of not dying. That's at least, what, a C+ on the Requiem survival curve?"

To his left, the sharp-eyed brunette adjusted her robe with a sigh. Kana, his so-called "childhood friend" character, complete with tsundere tendencies and an overprotective streak. "Stop ranking your survival like it's a school project, idiot," she muttered. "You didn't even notice the death crab behind you earlier."

"I did too," Haruki said, smug. "I just… emotionally delegated."

Aika, the orange-haired bubbly one who sparkled like she ran on sugar and sunbeams, burst into laughter. "Emotionally delegated! That's totally going on your tombstone."

On his other side, Yuna—the cool, aloof swordswoman with seaweed-green hair and a talent for staring through people—leaned against a smooth rock. "Tombstones are for those who lose faith. We still have a path forward."

"Oh my god," Haruki groaned. "Yuna, we're at a river. Lighten up. Pretend it's a hot springs episode."

"I don't do filler arcs," she said flatly.

From behind him, Miyu—the mysterious healer girl with soft pink hair and a habit of whispering ominous things in her sleep—gently brushed her fingers through her bangs. "The suns tastes sweet today," she murmured. "It means someone's going to kiss."

Haruki pointed at her dramatically. "And that's why you're the fan-favorite."

The five of them had been in Requiem for two years now—long enough to stop wondering when it would end and start wondering where to put down roots. They'd almost joined the Narloic Foundation back when they thought this place had rules. But now? With the new laws of the eight day and the towers falling from the sky?

Task 1: find a way out. Task 2: don't die horribly.

Haruki tilted his head back and sighed. "So. How many Supreme Families do you guys think you could seduce if needed?" He got up and walked a few paces to stretch. Letting out a long yawn.

Kana threw a sandal at his face. Sitting cross-legged on the smooth boulder, wore her robe like it was armor—tightly wrapped and fastened high, concealing more than it revealed. Her dark brown hair framed her sharp amber eyes, always narrowed just enough to say try it. Her other sandal was already in one hand again.

"Keep staying stupid shit and I swear I'll drown you with your own robe string," she muttered.

Haruki looked away, blushing. "I wasn't—! He went to change the topic. "I was just admiring the natural scenery!" He pointed dramatically at the river, only to get a sandal thrown square into his chest.

Yuna, the tall one with long forest-green hair, had her arms folded beneath her chest as she leaned against a crooked tree, legs elegantly crossed. Her piercing blue eyes tracked everything like a sentry. She'd tied her robe loose again—of course she had. One wrong step and she'd have anyone's attention. She caught Haruki peeking and raised a single brow, smirking without saying a word.

Aika, the sunny one with honey-orange hair that shimmered like it had its own light source, had jumped into the water and was now half-submerged in the water. She splashed lazily with her feet, lips curled in a wide grin. "You're making that face again," she teased.

"What face?" Haruki asked, feigning innocence.

"The 'I can't believe I got isekai'd into a wish-fulfillment harem manga' face," she giggled. "Don't worry, we all see it."

"No. It's the "I can't believe you jumped in with your robe on" face."

Miyu, meanwhile, sat at the edge of the shore. Her pastel-pink hair fell in soft waves over her robe, which always looked slightly too big for her—as if she were a ghost borrowing it from another life. She reached into the satchel beside her and lifted a small velvet pouch. Inside, nestled in a gleam of woven thread, was a glowing red gem.

She didn't speak loudly. She never did.

"We still have the red one," she murmured. "It's warm again."

The moment quieted.

Haruki's eyes locked on the gem. That damn thing. In the manga, My Love Life Is a War Crime!, it was just a plot device—a so-called heirloom the original protagonist carried around like a sentimental idiot. Some trite mystery to be solved around Chapter 84 when the villain revealed it was actually a ring for the main girl. Supposedly.

But here…? In Requiem?

He had heard the voice. The distain behind it. The cosmic rumble that reached even their little forest camp. The Fortune Holder. A competition, a slaughter, a test. Whatever it was, it had changed everything. Supposedly red gems were the rarest. And somehow, without trying, they had one.

He didn't know if they were contestants. The rules were blurry. But the world had probably noticed them now.

He let out a long breath and stared into the river, his reflection rippling across the current.

Yuna's voice reached him first. "You're quiet," she said simply.

Aika scooted closer, her voice more playful. "That means he's thinking again. Dangerous times."

Haruki didn't look at them as he spoke. "…I just wonder if I'm strong enough to protect you guys. If this world's really watching us now—if gods can change reality on a whim…—I don't want to be some half-baked protagonist who folds when it matters."

Kana stood up, stomped over, and smacked him on the back of the head. Not hard. Just enough to rattle him.

"You absolute idiot," she said, arms crossed, cheeks red. "Who says you're doing it alone?"

Haruki blinked, then laughed weakly. "I mean… I am the main character."

Miyu tilted her head. "Only because we let you."

Yuna closed her eyes. "We chose to stay here with you, didn't we?"

Aika grinned, ruffling his hair. "If you fall apart, we'll just pick you up. Easy."

Haruki stared at the four of them, warmth rising to his chest. His ridiculous, overly complicated, emotionally chaotic harem.

He smiled. "You girls really are the best worst decision I ever made."

The laughter rolled over the riverbank, warm and light, a welcome echo in a world that had grown far too choatic this past week.

But as always, Aika was the first to shift gears. She stood up, drying her legs with a flick of her robe, expression sharpening. The amber hue in her eyes darkened a touch as she glanced over the rest of them.

"Alright, fun's over. Let's get serious for a second."

Everyone perked up.

"I say we stash the gem," she continued, voice calm but commanding—like she had back in the manga. "Deep. Somewhere only we know. No point waving a flashy bullseye over our heads."

Yuna nodded immediately. "Agreed. If that thing really is a key to the towers, we can't risk it being stolen."

Kana scoffed. "We should've ditched it."

"I still think it might be useful," Haruki cut in. "We don't know what kind of bartering power it has. If we get backed into a corner, it might be the only thing that can buy us out."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"What if someone can track it?" Kana shot back.

Miyu spoke quietly, twirling a blade of grass between her fingers. "If someone could track it, wouldn't they have found us by now? That voice said no one's gotten a red one yet…"

That gave them all pause.

Haruki nodded. "Exactly. So we've either been insanely lucky—or it's safe as is. But just in case…"

"We simply hide it," Aika finished. "Haruki put it in your inventory."

He added it to his inventory that could hold up to twenty items. An odd super pocket really.

As they began to rise, slinging their packs and brushing river pebbles off robes, the mood lightened again. Yuna brushed close to Haruki as she passed, and he tripped on a root that definitely wasn't there before. Kana gave him a deadpan glare, then promptly smacked him with her sleeve "by accident."

"You're hopeless," she muttered, but her cheeks were pink.

Haruki groaned dramatically. "I am but a humble man lost in the affections of four ethereal maidens…"

"You're getting zero maidens at this rate," Aika muttered, though her smirk betrayed her.

But just as the playful air began to take hold again—Aika froze.

Her hand lifted, palm open. Her eyes narrowed toward the distant tree line. A breeze passed them, colder than it should've been. The chirping insects hushed. Even the river seemed to lower its voice.

The others quieted instantly.

Haruki followed her gaze, eyes narrowing.

Aika didn't move. "…Something's out there."

And just like that, the afternoon warmth was gone—replaced by a crawling tension none of them could quite explain yet.

But they all felt it.

Something had entered the woods.

Yuna narrowed her blue eyes, catching the flicker of motion just beyond the cedar line. Without a word, she flicked her wrist—a slender silver blade spiraling out of her spatial storage, catching the sun for the briefest flash before she surged forward.

Ryun ignited across her limbs, turning her momentum into a blur. She vanished from the riverside, her presence shifting like wind. A half-second later—

CLANG!

Her sword met resistance.

A boy stood in the treetops—grinning. His coat fluttered like a black flag, his silver eyes alight with challenge. He twisted, letting her blade graze his side, then launched a pulse of concussive force from his palm. The blast struck Yuna mid-chest and flung her across three trees.

She rolled, slid, and caught herself, skidding across bark until she landed crouched.

"Not bad," the boy said, brushing dust off his sleeve.

Haruki exhaled, stepping forward. "Okay, okay. Let's all take a breath before we start launching anime power-ups."

The boy turned his head. "You the leader?"

"Something like that." Haruki tilted his head, offering a lazy grin. "That block? B-plus. Footwork needs polish. Not enough rhythm."

The stranger chuckled. "I'll take the notes. Jack by the way. What kind of Outlander are you?

"Haruki. Harem protagonist, apparently. And you?"

"The over-power kind."

"That's my line…"

A pause. Then Jack laughed.

"Right. I need the gem. And don't lie about it. I saw you hide it away."

That was enough to shift the mood.

Aika and Kana moved subtly into position. Miyu placed her hands together. Even the air stilled.

"We can't give it away," Haruki said casually. "Even if we wanted to. Plot importance. Big arc trigger. You understand." Though he wasn't against using the gem as leverage. Something about Jack just didn't sit right with him.

"I get it," Jack replied. "But the game's officially started. Holding that gem makes you a target. Are you even participating?"

Yuna's blade sparked to life again.

"Try it," she said flatly.

Jack's eyes flicked over the group. "You all serious?"

Kana didn't wait. Her hand snapped up and a blaze of fire cracked through the trees, spiraling like a twisting comet. Yuna followed it with a sweeping Ryun slash, a blade of cutting energy riding the flames like a second wave.

Jack grinned. "Okay then."

He dropped low, palming the ground—and in a heartbeat, three glowing glyphs snapped to life behind him.

Yuna moved. No warning. No words.

One moment she stood still, pale gold aura pulsing around her sword like a heartbeat—then she vanished. A sharp ring split the forest as her Ryun-coated blade carved a glinting arc through the air, headed straight for the boy.

Jack smiled.

His hand flicked, intercepting the strikes and fireball with the glowing glyphs—Mirrorborne Instinct. A brief flare of pressure exploded between them, scattering dust, leaves, and birds into the sky. The aftershock alone blew a crater into the tree behind him.

"Not bad," Jack said with a casual hop back. "You must be Yuna. Stoic Sword Babe, right? I think I read this manga."

Yuna didn't reply. Her Blade Echo triggered mid-swing, and a ghostly afterimage sliced forward behind the first slash.

Jack twisted his heel and launched a deflection pulse from his palm—redirecting the echo upward where it splintered a tree in two. Bark and branches rained down.

Haruki stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "B-plus. You blocked the echo clean."

Trees exploded in waves of red and gold as Yuna's blade blurred through the canopy. Her Aura Edge shimmered, a golden crescent of sharpened Ryun arcing through the trees. Jack twisted midair, twin greatswords unsheathing from his back in a flash of steel and gravity. The first blade caught her echo slash mid-motion, sending shockwaves rippling through the leaves. The second sword came around in a sweeping counter—but Yuna was already gone, kicking off a branch and vanishing into the upper boughs.

Below, Kana laughed like a mad dog. "Try dodging this, edgy boy!"

She flared her aura—crimson with orange sparks—and launched a Spark Bomb into the sky. The orb burst like fireworks midair, raining down embers in unpredictable spirals. Each ember kissed the landscape, igniting brush and bark, turning the surrounding forest into a wildfire maze. Jack spun his sword and swept it sideways—absorbing a few of the embers directly into his weapon.

He stored them.

With a smirk, he flung them back, upgraded—each ember now a shrieking comet of blue flame, twirling like cursed fireflies. Kana squeaked, darting back with Blazing Flicker, barely avoiding the retaliation.

"He absorbed it?!" Aika barked, eyes narrowing. "Yuna, fall in!"

"On it," came the calm reply.

Aika surged forward. Momentum Lock rippled from her, anchoring the battlefield in a subtle aura pulse. Trees stilled. Wind paused. Even Jack's breath hitched for amount before he absorbed the aura around him.

She moved like a general—silent, fluid, efficient.

Yuna struck low, a Blade Echo trailing behind her first attack like a phantom slash.

Jack deflected the first hit—but the afterimage carved his side. "Tch."

Before he could retaliate, Kana jumped from above—spinning midair and blasting her Flashflame Counter as a distraction. Heat and light flared, blinding Jack just long enough for Aika to land a precise Guided Edge strike on his right arm.

The trio pushed together—blade, flame, and strategy forming a deadly rhythm.

Jack grinned, blood on his lip. "Cute."

Then he roared, and the world broke open.

His twin greatswords slammed into the dirt. Ryun and Echoed force radiated out, cracking the earth in a circular pattern. Trees were ripped from roots. Hillsides collapsed. The color of the forest changed—vibrant green to shifting grey-blue, as if the terrain itself was being rewritten.

He activated Dimensional Echo Authority, and the entire battlefield became his to mirror.

"Y'all done?" he asked, stepping forward. A newly forged weapon coalesced from his inventory—a sword of incinerated bone, humming with flame pressure. The very spell Kana had used, now wielded by someone who understood it better.

Yuna and Kana were blown back and crashed through the terrain. Aika made a Ryun barrier but it collapsed under the pressure.

Haruki's hair fluttered with rising Ryun. They moved into position behind him. Kana cracked her knuckles with a wide, toothy grin. Flames licked up her arms as she muttered something about kicking Jack in the soul as Miyu healed her and Yuna.

"Give me the gem," Jack said. "I'm being polite."

"No can do," Aika replied, pulling herself up. Her pale-blue aura flaring behind her like smoke. "There's something off about you."

"Oh? That's rude. Let's get to know each other better before making such assumptions."

"Back off," Haruki said to Jack. "You've had your fun."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Lemme guess. Secret technique? Plot armor awakening? Friendship power?"

Haruki's hair lifted from his shoulders. Wind spiraled around him. "I warned you…"

BOOM.

The trees behind him shattered under pressure alone. Ryun erupted from beneath his feet in radiant columns. Haruki entered Limit Breaker Mode, his aura responding to the fear, hope, and desperation of his allies.

"You think you're the protagonist?" Haruki growled. "I'm the damn cover art."

Jack laughed. "Now this is a proper fight."

The forest shuddered.

Haruki stepped forward, silver veins of aura pulsing down his arms like lightning through a storm cloud. The ground cracked beneath his feet with each stride, nature itself buckling under the force of his will. His eyes weren't glowing—they were blazing, twin suns burning with purpose.

Limit Breaker Mode: Ignition.

A roar tore from his throat—pure, unfiltered defiance—as he lunged at Jack with a speed that folded the air around him. The trees behind him split from the pressure alone.

Jack met him with a wild grin.

One of his twin swords slammed into the earth, anchoring the shockwave as he lifted the second—its blade now pulsing with an eerie violet light. Aura bled off Haruki like a broken dam, and Jack reached through it.

He absorbed it.

The sword drank from Haruki's unleashed Limit Breaker energy like it had a will of its own, crackling and distorting with foreign power. The steel darkened, shimmered, then twisted—becoming something else entirely. Something unstable.

"You think you're the chosen one?" Jack barked, his voice layered in echoes. "Try being the glitch in the script."

He charged, dragging the transformed blade through the air like a falling star. The forest behind him wilted from the pressure, leaves evaporating midair, soil turning to ash.

Haruki met the strike with both arms crossed—barriers forming just in time. The impact detonated across the battlefield, a dome of raw energy blasting outward and hurling debris, roots, and aura-light like fireworks from hell.

Haruki and Jack clashed again in a burst of raw power that obliterated the surrounding hillside. Trees shattered into splinters. The sky cracked with displaced pressure. A distant mountain ridge bent from the shock.

Jack's sword fractured, then reformed into a bow—sleek, black, and engraved with storm runes. It pulsed with compressed kinetic force.

He pulled the string and let fly.

The arrow exploded into a compressed barrage of every attack Haruki had launched so far—stacked, mirrored, and warped. Haruki barely twisted out of the way, the forest behind him collapsing as the blast reversed gravity and then detonated on rebound.

Jack flashed forward, bow vanishing.

A curved obsidian scythe bloomed in his hand, mist coiling around it like screaming souls. He spun and dragged it toward Haruki with brutal grace.

The blade landed, cleaving through aura, muscle, and mountain. Haruki bled—but his eyes never left Jack's.

He punched forward.

The hit landed.

Jack's body twisted with the impact, crashing into a pillar of stone that detonated outward. The girls cheered—but Jack was already rising, grin still intact, blood steaming off his body like mist from magma.

As the clash continued though, it was getting annoying how much the power of friendship was amplifying him. Haruki's friends' voices echoed in every heartbeat. He didn't just fight for them.

He fought because of them.

"Keep pushing, Haruki!!" Aika shouted, blood still trailing from her lip.

Behind her, Miyu knelt in the wreckage, hands glowing with ethereal pink-green healing Ryun. She stitched wounds with pure energy, pouring her lifeforce into Kana and Yuna. Her breath trembled, but her voice was unwavering.

"We're not done yet. Not until he wins."