The College Roommate

“I’m bored…” The thin mousy-looking Asian man muttered. Yoichi Tabata lay there on the floor of his living room, watching the ceiling fan spin round and round. Life as an accountant was exactly as exciting as he had predicted it would be. His daily routine was just as predictable. Wake up, go to work, stare at numbers for 8 hours, head home, eat dinner, and sleep. His only excitement was when family or friends reached out to him for something. Usually, his Mom demanded he do some errand for her, but even that was more welcoming than laying on the carpet doing nothing.

Throughout Yoichi’s life, he’d always been the one to go with the flow. If friends wanted to go somewhere, he’d be right behind them. Up to no good? Yoichi would be their support. He didn’t care much to be the center of attention but loved participating. Eventually, his friends growing up would always assume that Yoichi would join them in whatever shenanigans they got up to, much to his parent’s chagrin. Weirdly, he always considered himself the side character in his friend's life. Just there for the ride.

College was an interesting time for him. There, he met Dan Whitaker, an economics major at the time, as his freshman-year dorm mate. The two would be joined by Dan’s friend Victor, who had also lived in their dorm suite until he dropped out. The three of them did basically everything together, and Yoichi loved being there for the ride. Shots of unidentified ****, collegiate sports games, and staying up till midnight for video game releases. They did it all; it was the most fun he’d ever had. He missed it.

“Maybe I should get a roommate…” Yoichi said to himself as he looked around his empty, décor-less house. ‘Or a girlfriend so that Kaasan gets off my back…’

Despite his lack of ambition, the young man was always great with his money and dealing with others. At age 25, he was already a senior accountant at his firm and could afford a house to live in by himself. Though he enjoyed getting away from his parents a bit, he thoroughly missed living with other humans.

It’s been about three to four years since he moved out of Dan’s apartment after the two graduated, and he misses them more than ever. Missing the excitement of having friends around and doing stuff has left a void in his life. He had heard about folks from college drifting away from their friends afterward. He thought they were thick as thieves.

Yoichi sighed as he began to sit up. “Guess I’ll make dinner… Huh?”

As he stood up completely, he found that he was immediately losing his balance again as nausea hit him out of nowhere. Then his world went dark.

**********

Yoichi’s eyes fluttered open as he slowly regained consciousness in a foreign room. He found himself lying down on a queen-sized bed in what looked to be a relatively tropical hotel room. As he sat up, he could see from the large windowed balcony a rather pretty view of a beach with what looked like some sort of a festival. He attempted to take his phone out of his pocket but quickly realized it was missing.

Yoichi laid back down on the bed and resigned himself. ‘Huh… Guess I’m on vacation now…’

He figured he would get his answers eventually, so why panic now? A few minutes of silent thinking followed until he noticed a pamphlet on the nightstand next to the rather comfy bed. He begrudgingly attempted to reach for it and began to read through it.

‘Harem Hotel huh? Competitions, love, transformations…’ Yoichi’s heart began beating fast as a smile formed on his face. ‘Sounds exciting!’

The man was starved for entertainment, so this ordeal may turn out to be fun. Especially if the Master ended up as someone he knew. He figured he wasn’t master material, so being a contestant made the most sense, though the connotations of that conclusion made the young man think about what his life may turn into.

“Oh well, it is what it is…” Yoichi decided. Not worth it to complain at this point. He’d just roll with it.

“‘Ding Dong’ Yoichi Tabata, you may now take the elevator up to the penthouse suite. Please come at once, or you will be guided there.”

Yoichi psyched himself up, and he left his hotel room. “Let’s go!”

Yoichi Tabata found himself on a set with a few familiar faces a few minutes later.

“Oh good, It’s you, Dan.” The Asian man commented as he let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks for joining us, Hun. Please go ahead and sit next to that grumpy fella over there and grab a taco if you’d like,” Vanessa instructed the newcomer as he got closer.

Yoichi nodded and responded. “Okay, sure.”

“See, Mr. Grumpy! It ain’t that hard to follow directions,” Vanessa teased the growing bald man. She then spun around and spoke into the camera once more. “And with that, we have half of our contestants here. We’ll be back after a short break, where we’ll introduce the rest of our lovely cast. Don’t miss it! We have some great surprises in store for you.”

The theme music played as the camera zoomed out and began to pan over the view of the hotel as the title card came back on. Then, Commercial Break.

Vanessa turned to the “cast” and began speaking to them. “Alrighty, Huns, we have about five minutes until we’re back on the air. Feel free to talk amongst yourself, but no leaving the couch now! Don’t want too much moving in between shots. Back in a few!”

Vanessa then vanished out of thin air, much to the surprise of the men who didn’t expect any actual magic to exist.

Victor was the first to break the silence. “So… What the fuck is going on?”

“I have no idea anymore…” Muttered Dan, who was more confused than when he got here.

Cody seemed unable to talk but simply threw his hands up and breathed out in frustration. Gabriel took that as a sign that he should shed some light.

“Uhm… Did you guys not read the pamphlet in the hotel room?” Gabriel spoke nervously.

“Pamphlet?” Dan and Victor questioned at the same time.

Yoichi chimed in. “Mhm. Had a good amount of info on it and what to expect. Was a fairly quick read. By the way, great to see you guys.”

The college friend smiled and waved toward his two old friends he hadn’t seen in years.

“Ah, yeah. Hey Yoichi. Sorry, I haven’t visited in a while. Work has been nuts lately.” Dan rubbed the back of his neck as he sheepishly waved at his friend, whom he may have neglected.

“No worries, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on anyways.” Yoichi smiled and began to reach for something in his pocket.

Dan looked at his friend, confused, and questioned him. “What makes you say that?”

The Asian pulled out the pamphlet given to the contestants and held it out for Dan to reach. The Master's stomach dropped when his friend spoke his next words.

“We’re going to be your Harem, after all.”