Trash-Chan happily bobbed up and down in her seat next to mine. She had a wide grin painted on her face. Today was the day that Shin-San would bring Junkers to school, and Trash-Chan could hardly wait. She eagerly watched everyone as they came through the doorway.

I, on the other hand, was dreading this meeting. Both waifus could easily cause a lot of trouble on their own. I feared what kind of trouble would arise with the two of them together.

"Say, Main-Kun, they sure are taking their time today."

"Well, Shin-San is usually one of the last to arrive."

Shin-San had many siblings that he would make sure to get up and get ready before he even started to prepare for school himself. His house was quite a sight to behold. The house was built vertically with a staircase that weaved back and forth to rooms placed on either side. Each of his siblings had a room on a different floor, so he would run up and down the stairs every morning to make sure everyone was up.

His parents had bought the building specifically for Junkers. She could fly, but it was loud, and the takeoff tended to disturb people. The tall house allowed her to take off from the roof with minimal disturbance to other people on the ground.

"Tai-Kun!" a shout came from the doorway. Junkers was here. She strode in through the doorway while wearing our school uniform. As soon as she saw me, she broke off in a sprint to hug me.

"Ah... Junkers, can't breathe..." I choked out as she crushed me with her bear hug. I felt myself start to fade from consciousness.

"Tai-Kun! Don't die on me!" Junkers let go and began to shake me violently. This was the typical sort of greeting she would give me.

"Hello, I'm Trash-Chan, the trash-tier waifu," Trash-Chan ignored my plight and began to introduce herself to Junkers.

"Ara Ara, Tai-Kun. Look at this cute vaifu you found for yourself!" Junkers let me go and greeted Trash-Chan with a crushing hug.

"Ah... can't breathe..."

"Junkers, please stop crushing people," Shin-San said with a sigh as he pulled Junkers away from Trash-Chan.

"Thanks, Best Friend-Kun," Trash-Chan said while stretching to straighten out her spine.

"Shin-Kun..." Junkers whined as he pulled her to his desk. The class was about to start for the day. The students filed into their seats, and our teacher began to lecture.

"Main-Kun," Trash-Chan whispered to me while our lesson was going on, "Why is there a suspicious van outside?"

I looked out the window. Sure enough, there was a suspicious-looking van sitting outside the school. It was an all-black panel van with no side windows. On the side facing the school, there was a logo that I recognized, Waifu Services.

"Just ignore them," I whispered back to Trash-Chan as men in suits exited the van. They were greeted at their van by a teacher that had just walked out. "No one we need to worry about."

Soon it was lunch, and Shin-Kun and Junkers joined us. They happily strolled over and sat on the bench in front of my desk.

"So, Trash-Gozen, what made you want to be Tai-Kun's vaifu?" Junkers asked.

"Main-Kun and I were destined to be together. We are going to get to the top of the Waifu Wars together!" Trash-Chan declared.

"My, the top of the Vaifu Vars. Your quite ambitious Tai-Kun."

I had forgotten about the Wars. We had only competed in one at the beginning of the story, and it seemed like that had been it. I guess Trash-Chan was still determined to compete. I'm sure my sister would be on board as well if another War were brought up around her. I would have to be careful not to let mention it when she was around. I had no intention of competing in another War if I could help it.

"So, how long have you known Main-Kun?" Trash-Chan asked. The conversation was starting to shift in a direction I didn't want it to go in.

"Hmm, I've known Tai-Kun for a couple of years now. How long has it been, Shin-Kun?"

"We first met him in junior high."

"Has it been that long? I can't believe it." Junkers seemed surprised by how long she had known me. It had, in fact, been about four years since I first met Shin-San.

"Do you have any good stories about Main-Kun?"

"Oh, I know a perfect one from ven Shin-Kun and Tai-Kun just started high school."

Shin-San banged his hand on the table.

"Junkers! I told you not to tell anyone that story!" he yelled.

"I'll tell you later," Junkers not so quietly whispered to Trash-Chan.

"No, you won't. Help me out here, Tai-San!"

"Uh... I..." I stammered. I wasn't sure what story they were referring to, but I'm sure that it was not something I wanted Junkers to tell. "Please don't... Junkers..." I managed to say.

Junkers gave up or at least made us believe she gave up. We finished the rest of the lunch with idle chat before getting back to class.

In the middle of class, an announcement came over the loudspeakers:

"Shin Naka, please report to the guidance office with your waifu. Shin Naka, please report to the guidance office with your waifu." The class all looked to Shin-San, who had an odd expression. He didn't look confused by the announcement. It seemed like he knew what it was about and was annoyed by it. He and Junkers left the room and the lesson continued.

It wasn't until the end of the day when Shin came back. He entered the room while carrying a forlorn expression. Junkers was nowhere to be seen as he slid back in his desk and began to pack up his stuff.

This did not bode well. I turned to look out the window; the van was long gone. Surely it couldn't be the case that they came to collect Junkers? Yet, I suspected that was what had happened.

"Main-Kun, where is Junkers," Trash-Chan whispered to me after seeing me suddenly look out the window.

I took a deep breath and stood up. I did not want to initiate this conversation, but I had to try if Shin-San was my friend. I walked over to him.

"Hey, Shin-San..."

"They came to collect her..." he said while staring down at his desk. He knew exactly what I was going to ask.

"Wha... Shin..."

"I'm sorry I need to get back to my family." Shin stuffed the last of his things and ran out the door. It might seem rude, but I understood. Junkers was the only waifu in his family. If she was taken, Shin-San's family was in trouble.

"What did he mean by 'collect her'?" Trash-Chan asked from behind me. I turned around to face her.

"Let's just go home; I'll explain on the way."

Junkers was a waifu from a gacha game called Azure Welkin. The game features World War 2 era gijinka planes that the player can collect. A waifu draft for a gacha game tends to mimic the gacha system. Typically, a person will spend large sums of money to collect gacha waifus from the draft. They usually have a large amount of waifu's after the draft as well.

When a person gets a large amount of waifus, they will often allow them to become another person's waifu. However, many waifus choose to do this temporarily and can leave the person whenever they want. In some cases, the person who initially rolled for the waifu will call them back as well. In cases like that, they will call upon Waifu Services, a public organization created for the fair treatment of waifus, to come to take them back. If I had to guess, Junkers was called back by the original person who rolled. In the game she originates from, she is a 5-star character. The original roller probably wanted to bring her back since she was valuable, but she probably didn't want to leave. So, Waifu Services was brought in to assist with sorting everything out.

I finished explaining to Trash-Chan as we opened the door to my apartment. My little sister was waiting at the door as soon as we opened it.

"Big Brother! Is it true that Ia-Chan's waifu was taken away!" She yelled at me, opening the door. I stumbled back and was caught by Trash-Chan.

"Emiko-Chan, calm down," I said to her. She took a deep breath and stepped back to let me in the door.

"Is it true!" she yelled again once I had closed the door.

"Yes, I think it might be true. Waifu Services was at my school today," I calmly told her as I sat down at our table.

"Oh no..." she said while sliding down the wall to the floor. "What's going to happen to Ia-Chan?"

I had mentioned it before, but Shin-San was the eldest of five in his family. Ia-Chan was one of his younger sisters, who went to the same school as my little sister. Altogether, he had two younger sisters and two younger brothers.

With Junkers leaving, Shin-San's family would start experiencing hardship. Luckily, I think they had completely paid off their house, so I don't think they would be forced to move or have to pay higher installments every month. It was likely, however, that both Shin-San's parents would be demoted at work. Some of their kids might have to switch schools as well. Junkers was ranked relatively high. I believe she was B-tier in total, so the sudden loss was bound to have problems.

Yet, there was nothing I could do about it. Even if there was, I would just be interfering in business that was not my own. It would be tough for Shin-San and his family, but they would survive. He was old enough to enter in the next waifu draft anyway. They could probably just hold out until then.

"Big Brother, let's go visit them." My sister suddenly stood up with a determined look.

"What? Right now?"

"Oh, that's a good idea, Sister-Sama." Trash-Chan agreed. They didn't even wait for me to say anything else and began to walk out of the door. I frantically got up.

"Wait, you two." I grabbed each of them by the shoulder before they got too far. "We should let them be alone right now. It is not our business to get involved with."

"Big Brother, you're just going to abandon them in their time of need? After they were friends with us for all these years, when we didn't even have a waifu?"

"So cruel, Main-Kun."

"I... I don't like it any more than you do, but we shouldn't butt into other people's business. We especially shouldn't bring our waifu over to rub it in their faces!"

"Ah... Trash-Chan... he might be right. I think you should stay here while we go over there."

"Dear Sister, I think you ignored some other part of what I said."

Trash-Chan looked somewhat hurt at the suggestion. She looked down at the ground for a moment. I'm sure she understood the logic. She stood like that for a moment before looking back up to us.

"Sister-Sama, Main-Kun, I understand the reasoning for me staying... but I have to refuse. I may not know the rest of his family, but Shin-San is a friend of mine as well!"

"Trash-Chan," my sister said.

With that, they began to walk off again. I chased after trying to convince them to let Shin-San's family be alone, but they ignored me. Before we knew it, we were facing their front door. My sister rang the bell. The sound echoed through the inside of the house, and we heard footsteps slowly approach the door. There were several large clacks as the door was being unlocked.

Shin-San's mother was the one to greet us at the door. It looked like she had been crying as makeup was running down her face. Upon seeing that it was us, she slammed the door shut. We stood there for a moment until she reopened the door. Her face had been wiped clean, but her eyes were still red and puffy.

"Oh, Tai-Kun and Emiko-Chan, to what do I owe the pleasure?" She spoke in a tone that indicated she was happy, even though her face betrayed her.

"Hello, Naka-Okaasan, we just wanted to come... to check up on you all..." I took the initiative to greet Shin-San's mother. My sister and Trash-Chan had started looking down at the ground when she had come out the first time. I still avoided looking directly at her when I spoke. It was awkward to see her, usually smiling face distorted in this manner. I knew we shouldn't have come.

"Oh, Shin-Kun, thank you. Please come in. Everyone but Otousan is here right now... he will be a little late at work today..."

We followed her lead and stepped inside the tall house. It looked the same as ever, but the air felt heavier than usual. I took off my shoes and stepped into the main living room. A staircase zigzagged up the back wall to the other levels of the house. Each level of the house had two rooms, one on the right and one on the left, and a U-shaped loft that acted as a balcony that went from the stairs to each room. As a result, the living room at the bottom was opened to the top floor. The ground floor was the only exception to the two-room floor plan, having the kitchen and bathroom sandwiching the living room.

From the first balcony, the one closest to the ground floor, I could see Ia-Chan and Chika-Chan peeking out down at us. As soon as I looked their way, they disappeared behind the loft's half wall.

"I'm sorry I can't offer you anything to drink; things are a little crazy right now..." Naka-Okaasan said softly.

"That's alright..." I managed to say.

"Why don't you guys go up... they should all be in their rooms..." Naka-Okaasan said to us. My sister and I each went up the stairs to our friend's rooms. Ia-Chan's room was on the first floor, so my sister split off and went that way. Shin-San's room was on the top floor. I weaved up the staircase with Trash-Chan following just behind me. In total, their house was five stories high.

Shin-San's door was open when we reached the top. I walked over and gently knocked on the open door. Shin-San was sitting on the floor of the room with Hikaru-Kun and Kiyoshi-Kun sitting by him.

"Ah, Tai-San, what brings you here?" Shin-San said in a laid-back tone. He was trying to act casual, but his shoulders were tense.

"We just wanted to check up on you to make sure you were okay..." I stammered; this whole situation was very awkward.

"We?" Shin-San asked.

Trash-Chan had made sure to stay out of the doorway, so he was not aware she was there. She had her back pressed against the wall next to the opening. I imagine she was regretting coming here after seeing the mood.

I grabbed her and pulled her into view. She awkwardly waved to Shin-San.

"Hello..." she said with a smile before looking to the ground.

"Tai-Niisan is that your new waifu!" Hikaru said suddenly. His expression changed, as well. Both he and Kiyoshi jumped up and ran to us. They got very close to Trash-Chan and began to stare up at her.

"Wow, you actually did it."

"I thought Shin-Niisan was just joking when he said you had one."

I should start keeping a list of everyone who is surprised by having a waifu with me.

"Hey, Trash-Neesan, what made you want to be Tai-Niisan's waifu?" Hikaru-Kun asked.

"Isn't he kind of difficult to be with?" Kiyoshi-Kun asked.

"Oh... uh... hello." Trash-Chan wasn't sure how to act by the sudden questioning. "I'm Trash-Chan, the trash-tier waifu. Main-Kun and I are going to get to the top of the Waifu Wars." She said her usual introductory line, though with significantly less confidence than normal.

"Oh, there she is!" A voice came from the stairs. Ia-Chan and Chika-Chan came running up to Trash-Chan with my sister behind them.

"I can't believe she's real!" Chika-Chan exclaimed.

"I thought Emiko-Chan was joking!" Ia-Chan exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, big brother, they wanted to see her." My sister told me.

The four younger siblings surrounded Trash-Chan and bombarded her with questions. She frantically looked at them and looked at me with an expression that called for help. She slowly stepped back until she was against the half wall of the balcony. The kids just walked to stay close to her while asking more and more questions. I shrugged and looked at my sister.

"Don't let them beat her up too much. I'm going to talk to Shin-San." I walked into Shin-San's room. I think I heard Trash-Chan cry 'Main-Kun' in a call for help as I closed the door.

She wanted to come here, so I would leave her to entertain the other kids. At least it looked like she could distract them for a little while. They seemed excited. I guess the fact that I got a waifu was enough of a surprise to take their minds off Junkers. It is not the reaction I expected, but compared to the alternative, I didn't mind.

Shin-San looked in my direction as I shut the door.

"So, Shin-San..." I started talking but paused. I didn't know what to say.

"The guy that originally rolled for Junkers made some bad decisions and called her back. He lost his other 5-star, and he's in danger of losing everything, or something like that."

"So, Junkers was forced to come back?"

"Yeah, apparently, my parents and Junkers met a while back, and they offered a large sum of money. After they refused, I guess the guy didn't like that. He ended up filing a claim of waifu mistreatment to have her brought back."

"Hmm, is there nothing you can do?"

"Yes, but not really."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Junkers resisted the claim, so Waifu Services isn't sure what to do. They are currently providing her with a room at their facility while everything gets sorted out. I guess she told them that my family should compete with him in a Waifu War to decide where she should go."

"Why would she do that?" I asked, but I had some idea. Given the situation, Waifu Services was probably getting word from both parties that Junkers should not go with the other. She decided to choose a Waifu War to be the decider, and Waifu Services just decided to go with it.

However, I was unsure about what she had in mind with how Shin-San's family would compete in the War. Did she figure they would let her fight on their side? Given how Shin-San looked, that was not something that was going to happen.

"I don't know what she was thinking, but Waifu Services ended up letting the other guy pick the terms. It seems he chose a double battle..." Shin-San stopped for a moment to sigh, "It would be hard enough finding one strong person to support us in a war. I don't know where we could find two."

"I see. He's not planning to take any chances."

"Arg, that Junkers! She should have just kept her mouth shut!" "Shin-San yelled and punched the floor.

"This certainly is a mess..." I didn't know what to tell Shin-San.

"Sorry, you had to hear me vent... Thanks for coming, though, Tai-San."

With that, our conversation was over. I exited Shin-San's room and closed the door behind me. It seemed like he would need a little alone time.

Trash-Chan was on the floor with swirls in her eyes while my sister tried to wake her up.

"Trash-Chan! Trash-Chan! Don't die on me!" She exclaimed.

The other kids were nowhere to be found. It seems they wore her out then ran off.

"Come on, Emiko-Chan, let's go."

I picked the unconscious Trash-Chan up and carried her over my shoulder. She didn't come back until we had already made it home, or so she said. I think she woke up halfway there and didn't feel like walking.

The night came and went, and before long, I was in class. Shin-San didn't come to class. I didn't expect him to come in today anyway.

The class went on as usual. There was some chatter about Shin-San in the morning, but it died off throughout the day. The bell rang to end the day before I even realized it.

I was first out of the door again, with Trash-Chan trailing behind me. She hadn't said much during the day. She was probably concerned as well.

As I exited the school building, I saw two familiar faces. Ugly and Baldy as Trash-Chan's influence had made me start calling them.

They turned to look away when they saw me. Their faces told me they weren't happy to see me. Ever since the incident, they had not bothered to go after me in the slightest. I owe it to those who came to my aid, like Tomo-San and Shin-San. I shook my head and walked past the punks.

I hadn't asked for help either, but Shin-San still tried to help me. This was different, though. Or was it? I shook my head a second time.

Trash-Chan was probably capable of fighting in the War. She was gung-ho about getting to the top of the waifu wars, after all. I had been resistant to entering a War, but if it was for a friend.... Though, who would I be able to get to help us? There weren't many people that would be willing to help me, and I don't think any that would help had a strong enough waifu to enter into a battle with these stakes.

We were walking up to a bench, so I decided to sit on it. Trash-Chan looked confused but sat next to me. I rested my elbows on my knees and put my clasped hands onto my forehead.

Was there anyone we could ask? Now that I have gotten the idea in my head to help, I had to try to carry it through even if I ended up failing.

"Main-Kun?"

"Trash-Chan, would you be up for entering a War to help Shin-San and Junkers?"

"What!" Trash-Chan jumped off the bench in surprise, "That was an option, and you didn't even tell me!" I had not told Trash-Chan or my little sister about the War that Shin-San had said to me about. I can see why she was surprised.

"It's not so simple," I said softly

"Oh, yes, it is. Just point me to the waifu I need to beat down, and I'll get it done."

"Trash-Chan, I appreciate your confidence and enthusiasm, but the War is to be a double battle. We need someone else to fight alongside you."

Trash-Chan sighed and sat down next to me.

"That's not good... you don't have any friends that we could team up with, except for the one in trouble."

"Ordinarily, I would be insulted, but I think you might be right in this case."

"Well, that's not good, Main-Kun; you should at least try to banter back with me. That frown doesn't suit your face."

"I'm always frowning anyway."

"Normally, you just come off as sour. The frown your making now makes you look defeated."

I leaned back and looked up at the dull grey sky. Rain must be on the way. I saw a flock of birds fly across the sky and a plane higher in the sky, cutting through a cloud.

Just then, I had a thought. I immediately shot up from the bench to a standing position. My sudden movement surprised Trash-Chan, who jumped as I startled her.

"It might work," I muttered to myself.

"Aw, what are you doing?" Trash-Chan exclaimed.

"I think I might know someone who can help."

"What? Who?"

"The real question is if they will help or not..." I started to walk home. I needed to think about the best way to ask.

"Wait! Main-Kun! Who are you talking about?"

Trash-Chan chased after me as I quickly walked home.