"That's why you cannot fail in protecting her, I won't like to annihilate the boy whom my daughter chose."
['You can be sure, I'm completely motivated not to die.'] Rafael thought expressionlessly while continuing to listen to the message.
"I know that humans have potential, so I will believe in you, I hope to hear good news."
"Don't disappoint me, Rafael."
With that last phrase, the crystal stopped shining with the message ending, and with that, Zastin approached storing it.
"It was a...enlightening message, is this how the emperor of a galaxy operates?" Rafael spoke looking at the starry sky above.
"I hope you don't feel too pressured by this Rafael, understand his majesty's position, before a king he is a father, but his responsibilities come first, he has to be tough in his actions." Zastin spoke stopping close to him.
['Don't feel pressured is my egg! How do I not feel pressured by this?'] With the corner of his mouth twitching after hearing Zastin, Rafael changed his gaze to him. "That I understand, what I don't understand is how he drops something like that on the shoulders of a simple human teenager."
"You're not simple Rafael." Zastin said looking at him with a serious expression. "You're different from normal humans, that was clear during our fight, I believe you have what's necessary to fulfill his majesty's request, Lala-sama chose you, and I believe in her, you of all people should do the same."
Meeting his serious gaze for a moment, Rafael then averted his gaze upward looking at the sky again, nodding lightly. "Yeah, you have a point, I can't disappoint Lala if she chose me." ['Although I'm sure she didn't think much about it.']
"Exactly, now if you'll allow me, I'll be going." Bowing, Zastin then turned around, the dog still clinging to his leg.
Shaking his head at that sight, Rafael went back home.
...
['I just have to get stronger and this whole situation will resolve itself, the problem is that to get stronger I'll have to take risks.'] Bringing a glass of water to his mouth, he reflected internally while taking a sip.
[Yes, that's how things are, nothing in life is easy, you better than anyone should know that and if you want to go back home, you have no choice]
['I know I know, I'll do it anyway, I'm just complaining to relieve stress.'] Raising his eyes from his reflection in the glass, Rafael saw Lala approaching him cheerfully with a towel in hand.
"Rafael, let's take a bath together~!"
"Pfffff!"
Drinking tea sitting at the table with Rafael, Rito spat forcefully upon hearing Lala. "T-take a bath together!?"
Ignoring Rito, Rafael blinked silently meeting Lala's gaze who looked back at him with a smile.
"Ok." He said simply and standing up.
"W-wait Rafael you can't do that!" Rito said quickly to him.
"Huh? And why not?" Stopping near the table, Rafael raised his eyebrow looking at him.
"I-it's because...because..." Rito was getting redder and redder while he seemed to be having a meltdown.
"Just ignore him Rafael, Rito doesn't know how to deal with this kind of thing, just imagining holding a girl's hand makes him short-circuit."
Drawing Rafael's attention, Mikan stopped near him with arms crossed and a half-mocking smile for Rito.
With a look of understanding, Rafael nodded and then smiled lightly approaching Rito and patting his shoulder. "Listen Rito, Lala and I are a couple, it's natural that we do things together, when you have your girlfriend you'll do it too." Although, his words only made the boy redder.
"But but...you'll be naked!" Rito exclaimed as if it were the most criminal thing of all.
"Yeah, well, people normally take baths naked." Rafael shrugged ignoring Rito's deadpan look.
['I know what you're thinking my friend, and that's exactly what's going to happen, she invited me and I'm not going to miss this opportunity, even if we're not going to do anything advanced, that doesn't mean we can't play a little, let's play doctor, I'll be the gynecologist and she'll be the urologist, huehuehue~']
[That laugh at the end was ridiculous]
['Huehuehue~!']
[...]
What Rafael didn't notice was that as soon as his thoughts reached Lala, the girl blushed with the memory of what had happened yesterday, after that morning she hadn't sneaked into his bed again.
In reality, she was becoming more and more aware of him, something she wasn't used to.
So, knowing that he would really try something and that she wouldn't be able to refuse because she wanted it too, she changed her mind.
With her imagination working to show how things could unfold between them in the bathtub, Lala with a red face called for Mikan. "M-Mikan! Come with me! Let's take a bath together!" She said with a somewhat nervous smile while quickly pulling the confused girl.
"Huh? But you were going to-"
"Let's go let's go~!"
While watching the two girls leave, a confused Rafael looked without understanding anything.
"Haaa, good thing." Sighing relieved, Rito patted his chest.
Rafael shot him a deadpan look.
['What just happened? Why was she blushing, don't tell me she got embarrassed by what Rito said?']
[Who knows? Anyway, it seems you lost the opportunity]
['It's more like she ran away from me.'] Shaking his head, Rafael took the glass to the sink while wondering the reason for that reaction.
...
At school in the soccer field, a group of boys were playing.
They wore white shirts and blue shorts from physical education suitable for the class.
And among all of them were Rafael and Rito.
"Rito! Pass the ball!"
Rafael shouted from the right side in midfield towards him.
And hearing his shout, Rito didn't waste time executing an overhead pass.
Running, Rafael followed the ball's fall and controlled it on his chest.
With the ball in front of him, he ran with it.
"Ankara Messi! Ankara Messi! Ankara Messi!"
Chanting while running with the ball, one of his classmates soon appeared in front of him.
But Rafael passed him simply by cutting to the right.
And then another classmate came, but Rafael simply put the ball between his legs.
"Ankara Messi!"
Finally the last defender came, who ended up being Saruyama.
"Yosho!"
He shouted approaching him like a furious bull, but Rafael easily responded with a rainbow flick.
"What the fuck!?" Stopping completely shocked, Saruyama looked at the ball that traveled over his head while Rafael passed him.
Catching the ball again, Rafael continued running towards the goal.
And getting close, he kicked.
The ball traveled quickly hitting the upper right corner of the goal and stopping in the net.
"Ohhhhh!"
"Yeeaaaahhhh!"
"That was awesome!"
While his teammates celebrated, Rafael ran to the corner area, jumping and spinning with his back in the air, landing while lowering his hands to the sides.
"Siuuuuuu!"
While, he shouted, Rito with his other classmates approached him.
"That was awesome Rafael! How the hell did you do that?" Rito asked excitedly with his eyes practically shining.
While his classmates congratulated them, Rafael shrugged responding to him. "I'm Brazilian, it's natural for me, like how you Japanese are perverts for high school girls."
"...That was unnecessary." Rito responded while the corner of his mouth twitched and his nearby classmates showed similar reactions.
Laughing in response, Rafael changed his gaze towards where the girls were and there he spotted Lala.
On the track, he saw her preparing to run.
"Ready...Go!"
With the shout of another girl, Lala ran.
The problem was that she was too fast.
Shooooh!
With a strong burst of wind, her figure almost blurred while she immediately reached the finish line.
"...Eh?"
"Is that serious!?"
"Ehhhhhhh!?"
"it must be broken!"
The girls at the finish line exclaimed in shock seeing the stopwatch that one of them held marking eight seconds.
Lala had just broken the world record as if it were nothing big.
But what those girls didn't know and that Rafael was sure of was that she could still go even faster.
And Lala, as if noticing his gaze, turned towards him waving cheerfully. "Rafael~! Hi~!"
['I wonder how strong she is...by the way, I wonder if she would crush me between her thighs if I asked?'] Rafael thought distractedly while smiling and waving back at her.
[Your line of thought is really random]
['Well I think it's a valid question.']
"Hahaha~" Laughing softly upon hearing his thoughts, Lala went back to where the other girls were.
And following her with his eyes while the boys called him to restart the game, Rafael smiled softly at her. ['Those blue shorts really look good on her.'] He thought while his gaze focused on her butt covered by the short blue shorts she wore.
[...]
What Rafael didn't notice, however, was that another girl was looking in his direction while the corner of her mouth twitched upon hearing his thoughts.
Haruna simply didn't know what to think every time she heard Rafael's thoughts, it was like pulling a gacha, you simply don't know what will appear in the next moment.
"Haruna-chan, what are you looking at~?"
Suddenly, a short blonde-haired girl arrived behind her and hugging her catching her by surprise.
"Kya!" Haruna screamed startled.
"What is my cute Haruna-chan looking at so seriously~? Is it a boy~?" The blonde girl said while rubbing her cheek on hers.
"N-no, I wasn't looking at anyone." Haruna responded while trying to escape her clutches.
"You don't need to lie Haruna-chan, I saw how you were looking, it was the new boy right~?" A glasses girl with pigtails said while covering a malicious smile.
Stopping for a moment, Haruna reacted quickly shaking her head, although, her reaction along with the slight blush that appeared on her face gave her away. "Rafael? No, I wasn't looking at him."
"Heh~"/"Heh~"
The two girls just smiled at her which only made her blush even more, not that she liked Rafael, she was just embarrassed at being caught.
"But I get it, he's kind of...unique." While still hugging her, the blonde girl said with her gaze turning towards Rafael.
"Yeah, he has a strange charm." The glasses girl said while nodding to her.
And while the two looked at him, Rafael ended up sneezing.
['Oops, is someone thinking about me? Whoever is thinking about me is gay! Hehehe~']
[...]
And without him knowing, his thoughts made the three girls looking at him from afar make strange expressions.
With a somewhat strange smile, the blonde girl turned her focus back to Haruna. "Well, he's cute but be careful, Lala-san seems pretty strong." She said while out of nowhere squeezing Haruna's breasts.
"Yeah, better be careful." The glasses girl said while nodding to her.
"I already said it's not that and stop that!" Haruna exclaimed still embarrassed while finally freeing herself from the blonde girl's clutches.
Moving away from them, Haruna approached the others.
"Haruna-chan wait!"
The blonde girl said following quickly behind while the glasses girl went along just laughing.
But what the three girls didn't notice was that nearby acting as the physical education teacher was Sasuga who had heard the whole conversation.
"Kek~" Smiling in a not at all suspicious way, he stared at their backs before changing direction towards Rafael.
...
"Uaaahhh~" Yawning lazily, Rafael returned to the classroom ready to have his meal with Lala.
"Rafael~! Here~!" Lala waved cheerfully to him standing while surrounded by some girls and holding a bento box.
Raising his hand and returning the greeting, Rafael approached his own seat while ignoring the jealous and envious looks he received from the male part of the class.
['The more you look at me like that, the more satisfied I get you idiots'] He shot a mocking look at them that said 'yes I have a beautiful and hot wife and you don't'.
Which resulted in more hateful and envious looks.
[They still haven't realized that looking at you like that will only egg you on to provoke them even more]
['Because they're dumb.'] While continuing to smile at them, Rafael reached his desk however to his surprise, he found a cell phone on it.
"Huh? Whose cell phone is this?" Picking up the flip phone, he brought it close with a confused look, but as if waiting for him to pick it up, the cell phone rang.
Riiinnng~
Raising his eyebrow at that coincidence, he answered already finding it suspicious. "Hello?"
["Rafael Sales~ I'm with one of your friends right now, if you don't want her to get hurt it's better come to the tennis club equipment storage~"]
With his gaze immediately changing to a more serious one, Rafael asked back. "Who is this friend?"
["Kukuku~ it's your dear classmate Haruna Sairenji, you don't want anything bad to happen to her right~?"]
"Meh, she's not my friend, not my problem." Responding to him with a shrug, Rafael hung up the call.
[Rafael!]
['What? The blue hair isn't my friend, I'm not going to risk my life for her.']
Hearing that thought, a group of girls in the class froze.
[...]
['Look at you~ I'm kidding, it's a joke~']
Laughing lightly, Rafael turned leaving through where he had entered, running at full speed.
Behind him, Lala followed quickly.