"12:30 already, I just have to wait about three more hours and then I can go back" Lala muttered while sitting on a bench near Yuuji's house and, since yesterday, hers as well.
"Hello, Lala, long time no see."
"You must be Lala, it's a pleasure."
But her plans were interrupted by the appearance of two people who sat on either side of her without leaving any room to escape.
"Mrs. Clara?"
"'Mrs.' Clara?" Clara asked while looking at her with a smile.
"C-Clara" Lala corrected herself.
"Good, good, what a good girl" Clara nodded before pointing at her husband with her gaze. "Now, this is my husband, Yuuji Eicchi, Rito's father."
"It's a pleasure" Lala said while trying to stand up to bow, only to be immediately stopped by the couple.
"No need to be so formal, instead, why don't you tell us what you're doing here instead of at home having lunch with us?"
"Well, it's just that I..."
"Does it have something to do with your father?" Eicchi asked.
"No!" Lala denied immediately. "It's... well... the first impression, I ruined it."
"Well, if it's about that, we've already looked into you for a long time and know what kind of girl you are, so don't worry" Eicchi said.
"You looked into me?"
"Well, 'looked into' sounds a bit harsh" Clara said while giving her husband an annoyed look. "We just asked around about what kind of person the girl our son likes is. I have to say you're the perfect girl for him and we completely approve, so don't worry about that."
"Really?!" Lala said excitedly. "That's great. I thought you'd get angry at me for breaking the rules by skipping classes and forbid Yuuji from going out with me forever."
"Of course not" both parents laughed at the same time.
"How about we go back to eat? Yami and Yuuji are waiting for us."
"Let's go" Lala nodded immediately, returning to her usual cheerful personality and making everything from before seem like an illusion.
Once Lala was far enough ahead, Eicchi whispered to his wife:
"That girl... she didn't even realize it."
"Yeah" Clara sighed. "I hope Kaito helps her with that."
And so, somehow, the problem that had troubled Lala all morning disappeared in just a few pleasant sentences. At the end of the day, Lala is still the kind of person who goes with the flow and recovers quickly.
...
After that, lunch went by normally.
Lala acted as energetic as always, getting along with Yuuji's and Yami's parents as if she had known them her whole life.
Yami somehow, despite not talking much, got along just as well with them too.
Despite not being very expressive and normally being closed off, once Yami opens up you'll find she's actually quite easy to get along with, so this didn't surprise Yuuji too much. After all, ever since she accepted becoming their daughter it had been clear that Yami had accepted them too.
Although Yuuji wasn't sure why she had really accepted in the first place.
Surprisingly, the one who seemed most disconnected from them was their own son, with whom they barely communicated while chatting animatedly with the two girls.
With that atmosphere, lunch finally ended and Clara and Eicchi said goodbye to everyone.
But before leaving, both approached Yuuji and whispered a few words to him.
"Her smile?" Yuuji repeated doubtfully.
"Yuuji, what did they tell you?" Lala asked while approaching him. "It wasn't about me, right?"
"Not at all."
"I see" Lala sighed in relief before smiling again. "Yuuji, your parents are really fun. I like them."
Seeing that smile, Yuuji looked at her with interest, paying special attention to her face.
"W-what's wrong?" Lala murmured after feeling his gaze.
"It's nothing" Yuuji denied naturally. "Lala, do you want to go for a walk for a while?"
"A date!" Lala exclaimed excitedly. "Of course, let's go!"
"Wait, not right now, we just ate." But Lala had already disappeared while running outside to wait for him.
[A walk helps digestion, Master.]
"...Fine" Yuuji sighed while giving in. "Yami, we're going out for a bit."
"Nn." Yami simply waved them goodbye with one hand while lying on the sofa watching television without even looking at them.
...
"So Yuuji, where are we going?" Lala asked while doing little happy hops in front of him.
However, halfway there, she stopped and turned around, walking toward Yuuji and wrapping his arm with hers.
"Hehe, just like a couple in love" she smiled to herself.
"Where to go?" Yuuji repeated. "I don't know, how about we just go sit in the park for a while?"
"As long as Yuuji wants" Lala smiled while nodding.
Less than fifteen minutes later they arrived at their destination.
"Yuuji, come here" Lala said while letting go of him and quickly sitting down, lightly patting her thighs to signal Yuuji to lie down.
To her disappointment and confusion, Yuuji sat beside her instead.
"Yuuji?... Waaa..." Before she could finish being surprised, Yuuji did the exact opposite, making Lala lie down on his lap instead.
"Alright, now we're going to talk."
"Talk?"
"Yeah" Yuuji nodded. "You know I'm not very good at talking, right?"
"Although I think Yuuji is really good at it?" Lala said.
"Really?" Yuuji said, genuinely surprised.
"Yes, Yuuji helped me many times before, even when I was Rito's fiancée, talking with you helped me a lot" Lala said with a grateful smile.
"You helped me many times with your inventions too, so I guess we're even.
But... today we're not here to talk about that.
We're here to talk about your smile."
"You don't like my smile?" Lala asked fearfully.
"It's not that. I love your smile, it's one of the things that make you who you are."
"Hehe."
"But... I like your real smile, not a forced one.
Don't misunderstand me, okay? I know you usually smile at problems to genuinely be happy and see the positive side. I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about when you really should be sad or angry and you still smile anyway."
"I do that?"
"You do. Very often. Seeing the positive side is fine, but there are moments when you need to show more emotions beyond happiness."
"I see. But I didn't know I was doing that, so I don't know how to fix it" Lala replied, genuinely having no idea.
"About that, first we need to find the origin of this. Luckily my parents already helped me with that. Tell me, what's the reason you always smile?"
"Because being sad, angry, or frustrated is pointless?" Lala asked.
"And why is it pointless?"
"Eh? Well, I don't know?"
"And since when has being sad or angry been pointless?" Yuuji asked.
"Since... always?" Lala answered, unable to remember when she started thinking that way.
"Well, that's wrong."
"It's wrong?!"
"That's right, think about it, if a child gets angry or sad, would it accomplish anything?"
"Of course!" Lala nodded after thinking for a moment. "If it's a small child, it'll definitely make their parents... ah, I see." Lala stopped halfway through her sentence as she realized where the conversation was going.
"Good, looks like you figured it out. Besides, my parents told me you were nervous today about meeting them, my father specifically, since you'd already met my mother before.
I think that in your mind, a father is someone with absolute authority and someone you can't challenge."
"Ahaha, well, my father is... a little strict" Lala admitted.
"Right, but just because he's strict doesn't mean you can't go against him."
"Yuuji, my father is the king of the entire galaxy."
"...Good point" Yuuji said. "Alright, let's put that aside for a second, it seems the fact that nothing would work against him led you to apply that idea to every other aspect of your life.
I have two solutions in mind for this."
"Oh?! Even with options, amazing. As expected of Yuuji" Lala said in surprise while pretending to be dramatic.
"Alright, stop playing around. I have an easy option and a hard one, which do you want to hear first?"
"The easy one" Lala nodded immediately.
"Alright. Most problems come from not knowing you have a problem. Now that you know, you just have to try fixing it. Try not making smiling your response to every problem, try showing more emotions, even negative ones if possible."
"That sounds easy" Lala nodded before asking nervously, "What about the hard one?"
"Simple. Your father is the reason you don't dare show negative emotions, right? Let's solve the problem at its root by going against your father."
"G-g-go against my father? Yuuji, are you crazy?"
"Once you've even reacted like that toward your father, everything else will be easy by comparison, right?"
"I think? I'm not sure. Does something like not daring to disobey my father's orders really have anything to do with always being happy?"
"It does. A simple emotion toward one thing can cause a huge problem with others. The brain is a very complex thing," Yuuji nodded.
"I see. Yuuji, you're really good at this, you should be a psychologist."
"You think so? I'm not even sure what I said made any sense" Yuuji muttered.
'Am I sure I didn't just mix together two completely different things and assume they were related?' he wondered to himself.
"Of course it did. Alright, Dr. Yuuji, please tell me how to start."
"How to start?" Yuuji thought for a second. "How about trying to say what you'd like to tell your father?"
"What I want to tell him?"
"That's right. Just say it, insult him like he were listening to us right now."
"W-well" Lala said somewhat nervous but also excited while clenching her fists tightly.
"Dad, you're an idiot!" she shouted.
"That's it?"
"Dad, you're annoying!"
"That's it?!"
"Dad, stop trying to control my life! I can make my own decisions! I can marry whoever I decide! I can go wherever I want! I can...!"
As Lala complained, suddenly the ground started shaking and cracks spread throughout it.
Suddenly, from a hole emerged a massive drill. It opened up, revealing a small pink man with a bald mole-like appearance wearing a crown.
At the same time, similar but smaller beings started emerging from the cracks and attacking the people around them.
"W-what's happening?!"
"Ahhh! Help!"
"Save me!"
"My son! Someone save him!"
"Citizens of the surface, I am the Mole King, I have come to..."
"Shut up! I'm angry!"
Pium pium pium
Before the underground being could even finish his speech, Lala pulled out a laser gun and split him in half with a single shot. She moved her hand quickly, doing the same to all his underlings emerging from the surrounding cracks.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)