"Yuuji, what do you do at a water park?"
Yuuji felt a tap on his shoulder from behind, when he turned around, he caught sight of Yami, dressed in a basic school swimsuit, asking him what to do.
He looked at her outfit with satisfaction and smiled, 'Good, that way no pervert will look at her that way. And if even with that outfit and appearance they do... then the hidden guards have permission to dig up anything about them and send it to prison'
"Whatever you want" Yuuji replied. "There are plenty of pools with different attractions, there are hot ones, cold ones, calm ones, wave pools, some with slides, and more, just have fun."
"And that is fun?" Yami asked, confused.
"It is, but..." Yuuji guided Yami by the shoulders toward Mikan. "It's much better when you do it with friends" Yuuji replied, leaving Yami with her.
Mikan looked at Yuuji in confusion before letting it go and focusing on Yami.
"Yami, you don't have experience with water parks, right? Let me show you the most fun ones. There's one with slides that have an automatic movement mechanism, since they're yellow and change, they reminded me of your hair"
With that, she took Yami by the hand without waiting for her response.
Yuuji just watched them leave with a smile.
"Yuuji, you look like a caring older brother."
"Lala, you appeared" Yuuji said, surprised to see Lala suddenly beside him. "Speaking of that, you also have younger sisters, right?"
"That's right, Nana and Momo, they're adorable, you know? I have to introduce them to you sometime" Lala replied with her usual excitement.
"Sometime" Yuuji nodded. "Is there any attraction you want to go to?"
"Mmm, let's see" Lala looked around at the different pools and attractions, thinking about which one to choose. "I want to go to that one."
"That one?" Yuuji asked to confirm, since she had pointed at what was simply a hot water pool with an onsen theme, surrounded by large rocks and with some inside it.
Setting aside the fact that a water park had something like that in the middle of everything or the issues it could cause, things Yuuji decided to ignore, he was surprised she chose something so calm given her personality.
"Yes, yes, let's go!" Lala grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the pool.
'She's strong' Yuuji was surprised when he felt he couldn't pull his hand free.
"Wait, don't jump in there!" Yuuji, seeing how she jumped into the pool, onsen as if it were a normal pool, tried to stop her.
Not only did he fail, but to his surprise, they didn't fall into water, but onto hard, compact ice instead.
Since she had already jumped, Lala hit the ground and slipped.
Yuuji managed to steady himself since he was still on solid ground, but he still couldn't avoid falling when Lala's body crashed into him.
"...Are you okay?"
"Yes, tha... Yuuji? What are you doing under me?!" Lala asked in surprise when she opened her eyes and saw Yuuji beneath her.
"You fell onto me" Yuuji replied.
"Me?... Right! What happened to the water?!" she asked, confused.
Yuuji looked at the ground, not only the water in that pool but several others had turned into ice, many people had even turned into ice blocks, which Yuuji assumed they would be fine thanks to anime logic.
Then he looked toward what seemed to be the center of the ice spread, only to see Run there, who looked agitated and nervous about the situation, but her eyes showed something else, guilt.
'I remember this episode now' Yuuji thought. 'Should I let Run cause trouble all day trying to get Rito's attention or interrupt the drama?'
For a second, Yuuji genuinely considered just letting the drama happen to have something entertaining to watch, but then he shifted his gaze to Lala, who was still on top of him looking at him in confusion without moving.
'Forget it, there are better things to watch than other people's drama' he concluded.
"Lala."
"Yes?" Lala asked, blinking innocently.
"Can you get off me?"
"...I don't want to."
"...Lala."
"Tsk, fine" Lala clicked her tongue playfully before finally getting up.
Like someone skating for the first time, she slipped, only stabilizing herself by holding onto Yuuji, who had also stood up and, unlike her, could stay steady easily.
"Y-Yuuji, I'm going to fall" she said, holding on tighter.
"You'll be fine, just hold on and follow me" Yuuji said, starting to move.
But Lala slipped again, clinging to Yuuji with both arms to avoid falling.
"I don't want to! I'm going to fall!"
"Alright, then wait here while..."
"Carry me!" Lala interrupted.
"What?"
"Carry me, like a princess" Lala said, making a small pout, she dropped to the ground and extended her arms toward Yuuji as if asking for a hug.
"Fine" Yuuji gave in and lifted her in a princess carry. "Since when are you so spoiled?"
"Hehe, I saw this during my romance studies" she smiled proudly.
'So she saw it in a manga' Yuuji understood.
"But I bet in manga they don't ask for it, right? It just happens naturally."
"Not really" Lala replied. "But if I want something, I just have to ask for it, right? Why wait for it to be offered?"
'Oh. Sometimes I forget Lala is probably the most spoiled princess in the entire galaxy' Yuuji realized as if making a great discovery.
"Though I guess you're right" Yuuji admitted.
"For example, Yuuji, right now..." Lala said as she leaned closer to his ear and whispered. "I really, really want to kiss you."
"This..."
"But we're not a couple yet, right?" Lala interrupted. "So I'll wait until you want to do it."
"Thanks for that" Yuuji said.
"Anything for Yuuji. My Yuuji" she said proudly, hitting her chest with one hand.
"So you heard that" Yuuji realized before putting her down. "We're here!"
"So fast, again?" Lala said, surprised, reminding him of a previous situation.
"Ah, Lala, did you do this?"
As soon as they reached the group, who were still all together deciding where to go, except for Yami and Mikan who had already left, Yui asked Lala.
"No" Lala denied, confusing almost everyone, who were sure it was her.
"Then what happened?" Risa asked.
"A sudden climate change? Maybe the end of the world?" Mio murmured.
"I-I don't think it's that serious, right?" Rito said, imagining countless scenarios.
"That's right, only one area is frozen, look" Yui said, pointing into the distance where everything outside that spot looked normal.
"Then it was something that originated here and had a short range." As she said that, Haruna couldn't help but glance at Lala, since it seemed like something she would do.
Not just her, the rest of the group also looked at her unconsciously.
"It wasn't me!" Lala defended herself.
The gazes shifted a few centimeters to her side.
"Me neither" Yuuji said before smiling. "When did you see me use ic...?"
'Now that I think about it, I can do that' Yuuji realized, interrupting himself.
"The point is it wasn't me, it was Run" Yuuji said.
"Run?!" The word echoed through the group as they looked at her in confusion.
"H-how do you know?" Run asked nervously.
"What? Why would Run do that?" Lala asked.
Run, being watched by everyone, could only give up and decided to confess.
"Well... because Rito..."
"Rito?!"
The moment she said that name, everyone's attention shifted to him instantly, since he was much more known for causing trouble.
"What?!" Rito said indignantly. "No, I have nothing to do with..."
"Alright, Rito, stop right there" Yuuji interrupted, wanting to avoid repeating the original drama. "Run, finish talking."
"Yes. Rito said he was hot, so I thought I'd lower the temperature with alien technology, I didn't expect it to go wrong" she admitted embarrassed.
"So that's why!" Lala nodded in surprise. "But Run, using alien technology to make someone happy is wrong, it can go wrong and many people can get hurt, especially if it's untested technology."
Lala's words made everyone's attention shift again, this time toward her, all thinking the same thing.
'And you're the one saying that?'
"Wait, now that I remember, didn't Run say before that she liked Rito and would steal him from Lala?" Risa suddenly recalled, saying it out loud.
The gazes shifted again and some couldn't help but grab their necks from how fast they were turning.
"Right, so you do remember."
While they talked, the ice effect finally ended and the ground returned to normal, allowing Run to stand up, now towering over almost everyone as she pointed at Rito.
"Rito, I'll make you fall in love with me sooner or later, so... wait for me." After almost whispering the last part due to how quietly she said it, she ran off, leaving everyone behind.
"So... what was that?"
"I think she was embarrassed."
"Yeah, seems like it."
"So she just ran away, huh?"
"Then, Rito, despite her embarrassment she confessed her feelings to you out loud and seems very serious, what are you going to do?" Risa said, smiling as she looked at Rito before shifting her gaze between him and Haruna with the same amusement.
"I... I..." Rito looked at Haruna, wanting to say he had to reject it, but for some reason, remembering Run's embarrassed yet determined expression when she confessed, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"...I don't know" he finally said before looking at Haruna, expecting disappointment, to his surprise, she was smiling with her usual kindness.
"Yeah... that's the kind of kind boy Rito is" she nodded.
While this was happening, Yuuji observed the situation with great interest.
After all, for a while he had been wondering if now that Lala was no longer with Rito, his story would still follow the harem route.
But the truth is, the harem in the original story was only possible thanks to Lala, after all, by marrying Lala, Rito would become the king of the galaxy, and it is perfectly possible for the king of the galaxy to have many wives.
Yuuji thought that if Rito somehow still ended up on the harem route, it would be interesting to watch, since there would be many more moral issues being just normal Earthlings.
But now he realized he had been overthinking it, after all, Run is also an alien princess and marrying her would have almost the same effect as with Lala on his romantic situation.
And from what he had just seen, it seemed that Rito was stepping into the situation of "I can't reject her feelings even if I don't feel the same" which is, essentially, the first step of the harem route.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)