"'...ui'
'Yui!'
"Ah, what?" Yui exclaimed, startled by Risa's sudden touch.
"You zoned out out of nowhere, so we got worried. Are you okay?" Risa asked.
"It's nothing, I was just remembering something" Yui reassured them.
"Do you want a checkup? I am a nurse after all" Mikado asked.
But after Yui refused again, claiming she had simply gotten too absorbed in her memories, Mikado relented and left her alone.
"So, how long ago did you say Yuuji and Lala disappeared?" she asked, changing the subject.
The group turned their gazes toward Risa, the only one who knew exactly.
"Not long ago, only about ten minutes. I looked away for a second and they just vanished into thin air like it was nothing. Mikado-sensei, do you know anything about that?"
Normally, asking a nurse about something like that would make no sense, but given her line of work, Risa decided to ask anyway.
"Sudden disappearance, what's going on?" But this time Mikado had no idea what had happened.
Ring Ring
Before Mikado could answer, her phone rang with a new message.
[Boss: Don't worry about Yuuji and Lala, they're fine]
After reading it, she frowned before looking to her right and then left, searching for any kind of agent without success.
"They're fine, you don't need to worry. They'll be back later" Mikado said, finally giving up her search.
Hearing this, everyone showed relieved expressions.
"Don't get too happy, we still have problems" Mikado brought them back to reality.
"What's wrong? Are they in trouble?" Risa asked.
"No, it's not about them. It's about the hotel"
"The hotel?"
"That's right. What do you think I'm doing here? Visiting because I have so much free time?"
"Isn't that it?" Risa joked.
"Of course not.
I trusted that with that pair's abilities they'd finish the hotel in just a few hours, and I told everyone the hotel would be opening today.
Now it turns out the people responsible disappeared"
"Wait, Sensei, Lala already finished the hotel and it's fully equipped. Even if Lala and Yuuji aren't here, we can handle it ourselves."
"'We can?'" Rito and Haruna repeated in unison.
"Yes, we can" Risa and Mío agreed.
"Do you think this is a game, girl?" Mikado said doubtfully.
"Of course not. But Lala, even though her inventions usually go wrong, always tries to help others. We can help her this time" Run declared.
"Weren't you supposed to hate Lala?" Mikado raised an eyebrow.
"How does a nurse know that?"
"I handle alien affairs. How many problems do you think it would cause if two alien princesses killed each other on Earth? How many problems do you think it would cause me specifically?"
"Don't worry, Mikado-sensei, Run is just a tsundere. She actually cares a lot about Lala" Risa said while holding Run by the shoulders.
"Of course that's not true! And let go of me, only Rito can hold me affectionately!" Run snapped, trying unsuccessfully to free herself from Risa.
"Fine, stop acting affectionate in front of me. It's annoying.
As long as this isn't sabotage and you're actually going to work, I'll entrust the task to you. I trust the education and alien knowledge of an alien princess herself.
You have one hour to prepare."
After saying that, Mikado disappeared from the spot, and in the place where she vanished appeared a rectangular pink holographic door. On the other side, the school infirmary could be seen.
"Looks like the entrance door?" Risa asked.
"And the exit" Yui said, sticking an arm through it.
"Y-Yui, that could be dangerous, you shouldn't..."
"It's fine. Getting trapped here with no way out would be just as bad as losing an arm anyway" Yui interrupted Rito.
"Yui, you're really serious" Haruna said admiringly.
Hearing this, Yui's expression changed for a second.
"Whatever. Since we promised to do this, we should do it properly. Let's go to the hotel and divide the tasks according to what each person can do."
...
"Then, Yui, I'm counting on you."
"Likewise, Run."
"Have you ever worked a reception desk before?"
"Not really, but the tasks are basic management, something I have experience with."
"I see. That's great. I was only chosen for this because of my knowledge of aliens."
"Isn't that a talent in itself?"
"I don't think so. It's basic knowledge that most people in the galaxy have" Run denied.
"Are we really that behind compared to the universe?" Yui asked.
"No, you're just very far away."
"Far away?"
"Yes. The level of development, whether commercial or technological, of most planets in the universe is actually pretty similar to Earth's. The difference is that they have access to knowledge from other planets because they're connected to the galactic network. This doesn't really depend on the planets themselves but on the expansion of the Galactic King Gid Lucione Deviluke."
"Lala's father?" Yui raised an eyebrow.
"That's right. In fact, many planets that are part of the galactic network have levels of development several times lower than Earth's.
Those who are truly powerful, who can surpass the planetary level, explore the stars, and join on their own instead of being directly absorbed into the network, are few and far between.
After all, Deviluke is an exception, a super-developed planet with super-powerful beings. The current Galactic King is even an exception among exceptions. Someone who conquered the galaxy through his own strength. We're lucky he's not an authoritarian tyrant. Even though we're supposedly under his control, it's more like a galactic cooperation network."
"Wait, then the galactic network doesn't actually exist?" Yui realized.
"That's right. It's just what we call all the planets under Deviluke's control" Run nodded.
"That's... incredible. It sounds like Lala is an even more impressive figure than she seems" Yui said, genuinely impressed.
"She is. That's why she was always so lonely.
It's good that now she has someone who truly treats her as an equal and trusts both her and her unexploded disasters" Run said with a chuckle.
'Unexploded disasters' Yui repeated in her mind and couldn't help nodding with a smile.
"By the way, Yui, do you like Rito?" Run asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world, changing the subject.
"...Huh?" Yui thought she had misheard for a second. "No, why would you think that?"
"You're very responsible and reliable, and you also have a very sensual body. If you liked him, I'd be willing to accept you into Rito's harem."
"Ha-ha-ha-HAREM?!" Yui blurted out, her face turning red. "What kind of nonsense are you saying? That's... wrong!"
"Ah, right. People on Earth look down on polygamy, don't they?" Run remembered after seeing Yui's reaction. "But once Rito marries me, he'll be the king of my planet, so it's fine."
"B-but... is Rito okay with that? He was raised on Earth after all" Yui asked.
Hearing this, Run's eyes widened excitedly as she grabbed Yui's hands.
"Are you interested? Do you want to be my new sister? Otherwise why would you ask?"
"N-no, I was just curious."
"Since when are you a curious person?" Run smiled, not believing her. "As a responsible person who doesn't involve herself in other people's affairs, the only reason you'd be interested is because you like Rito, right?"
"No, I have a good impression of him, but I don't actually like him" Yui said.
"I'll tell you. As an Earthling, and probably the least lustful person around too, Rito rejects the idea of having a harem. But at the same time, he doesn't want to reject me or give up pursuing Haruna, so he said that if Haruna accepts, he'd be willing to have a harem." Run ignored Yui's words and started explaining anyway.
"That... sounds like a difficult decision for Rito." Probably anyone else would have accepted immediately, but knowing Rito, Yui knew it must have been very hard for him to decide something like that.
"That's right, but I attacked him with logic. He already intends to date Haruna and me at the same time, so even if he doesn't call it a harem, it still is one. When I told him that if he fell in love with more people later and then rejected them while already having a harem, it would be hypocritical, he hesitated a lot, but in the end he said he surely wouldn't fall in love with anyone else.
Even so, he didn't answer the other issue. Honestly, I think Rito would end up rejecting them because he believes it's for their own good, but Rito's usual indecisiveness and lack of self-awareness worked in my favor when convincing him otherwise.
Of course, I thought about who to add, but honestly I can't think of many people..."
Yui kept listening to Run talk nonstop for a while, nodding from time to time.
Inside, however, she was completely shaken.
'She knows him perfectly. She knows Rito, whom she met less than two months ago, better than he knows himself. Not only that, she uses that knowledge to manipulate him. What kind of strange relationship do these two have?'
"Oh, is this the new place we'll be staying? Not bad."
"Welcome. Please fill out this short form with your name and we'll give you your key right away" Run smiled, instantly changing her attitude as she attended to the new arrivals.
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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)