Just a few minutes later, a customized golden beam of light pierced through the clouds and walls before landing right in front of Lala. Once the light faded, it revealed the figure of a woman.
She was a tall woman with a curvy figure, large breasts and wide hips, fair skin hidden beneath a white lab coat, long golden blonde hair, and a pair of bright green eyes behind rectangular glasses with thin silver frames.
The moment she appeared, she looked around with equal parts concern, excitement, and anticipation, finally stopping on Lala while trying to hide her disappointment at not finding the person she had been looking for.
"Your Highness Lala, it's a pleasure to see you again" she said, forcing herself to sound formal. "S-sorry for bothering you as soon as I arrived, but... about what you said in your message."
"Tearju, it's been so long" Lala said as she excitedly hugged Tearju. "Yami isn't here right now, let me take you to her."
"Y-yes, please" Tearju nodded immediately before realizing something and asking "Yami?"
"That's the name Yuuji gave Golden Darkness. Ah, by the way, that's Yuuji" Lala said, pointing at Yuuji, who was simply standing there watching the scene. "Yuuji Rito, he's Yami's brother."
"...Yami" Tearju repeated to herself with a smile. "It's a lovely name, better than Eve.
It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for taking care of Yami all this time."
"It's not that much. I've only known her for a little over a month. As for everything that happened before that, I think you already know."
"Yes, I kept looking for her, but she avoided me the whole time" Tearju sighed. "Umm, are you sure she was the one who called me? It doesn't seem like something she'd do."
"Yami has changed a little, quite a lot compared to a month ago, actually" Yuuji replied. "I don't think she's a different person from before, but at least her first instinct is no longer to kill everything."
"...That's good. I never wanted her to be just a weapon" Tearju smiled in relief upon hearing that. "Alright, I'm ready to meet her. Where are we going?"
Tearju slapped her own cheeks with determination as though she were preparing herself for something difficult.
'Now that I think about it, she really was "a little" airheaded' Yuuji recalled as he watched her.
"Let's go then" Lala nodded. "Yuuji, should we call Yami, or should we take Tearju to her?"
"I'm already here" a cold voice suddenly sounded from behind the trio.
"Yami?! Since when have you been here?" Lala asked in surprise.
"Since the obvious giant beam of light" Yami replied naturally before looking at the blonde woman in the lab coat. Tearju simply stared silently at her without saying anything or daring to take a step forward. "Aren't you going to say anything?"
"A-ah Ev... Yami!"
Tearju simply ran toward Yami and hugged her while crying for several minutes, making Yami frown in annoyance.
"You're annoying" she finally said as she gently pushed her away.
"I-i'm sorry... sniff... I'm sure you must hate me now. It's my fault for abandoning you all this time."
"I don't care."
"E-eh?" Tearju stopped crying in confusion. "You don't care?"
"Nn." Yami nodded. "Come, I'll show you Earth."
Leaving Tearju even more confused, Yami simply took her hand and pulled her outside.
Although confused, Tearju tightly held onto Yami's hand and didn't dare let go as she followed her.
"I'm coming with you too!" Lala raised a hand and followed them as well, leaving only Yuuji behind.
"I didn't even notice her. I'm still too weak" Yuuji muttered as he looked toward the corner where Yami had appeared moments earlier.
"Yuuji, you're coming too."
Pulling Yuuji out of his thoughts, Yami came back and grabbed him as well.
...
"I work here."
Yami pointed at the Chaos Studios building standing before them, a building so ordinary that its name felt out of place.
"Eh? You have a job? That's not right, you should be going to school like every other kid your age."
"I worked as a bounty hunter since I was born."
"I-I'm sorry" Tearju apologized as though it were somehow her fault.
"It's alright. It's not your fault. I'll show you around inside" Yami said as she led Tearju into the building.
Yuuji also took the opportunity to leave a few more clones there. Unfortunately, the ability couldn't cross dimensions, so the moment Yuuji went to the DxD universe, all of his clones disappeared instantly.
However, while he was there, he realized something that made him reconsider his plans.
'Should I keep doing this?'
[From a logical standpoint, since you have no personal interest in it, nor any need now that the Success System and its missions are unavailable, there's no reason to continue this business.]
'I know. But abandoning it out of nowhere feels far too irresponsible. And the entertainment in this world is pretty boring. It deserves some good stories.'
[Indeed. Doraemon has become a worldwide success and the best selling children's manga, even expanding beyond its own genre and surpassing several other manga genres. After being published for only a little over a week, people are already talking about adapting it into an anime.
In that case, I propose passing Chaos Studios on to someone else while you simply provide the stories.
My primary candidate for the role would be Tenjoin Saki.]
'Saki? Seriously?'
[According to my analysis, the neighboring company Elite Stories, despite existing for only a few days, has tremendous potential.]
'Saki is good at publishing stories? How is that possible?'
[Tenjoin Saki has an elite business education, allowing her to analyze both the market and the potential of stories. From there, her personal talent lies in adapting them so they appeal to the general public while still remaining original and avoiding clichés.]
'So basically she knows how to appeal to others without losing herself, huh?' Yuuji realized, seriously considering the idea. 'Maybe I'll talk to her later.'
While Yuuji was thinking about this, Yami finished showing Tearju the building and guided her to the next place.
...
"The school? What are we doing here?" Lala asked curiously as she looked at the building before them.
"I lived here for a few days before moving in with Yuuji" Yami explained.
"Eh? You lived at a school?" Tearju asked worriedly.
"Before the alien hotel opened, the nurse here handled all alien contact and accommodations" Yuuji explained, reassuring her.
"Mikado-sensei is a good person. I'll introduce you to her" Yami agreed.
'...Mikado?' Tearju repeated the name in her mind as they walked. It sounded familiar.
After a little over a minute, they arrived at the infirmary.
"Yaaawn... It's the weekend. What are you all doing here?"
As soon as they opened the door, they found a tired Mikado-sensei, dressed in nothing but tight blue underwear and an open white lab coat, greeting them with annoyance.
"Yuuji, don't look!" Lala immediately covered Yuuji's eyes while pulling out a gun and shooting Mikado.
The nurse looked down at her body, now dressed in her usual outfit, and smiled sarcastically at the alien princess.
"Seriously? 'You' are really going to complain about..." She stopped in the middle of her remark when she noticed Tearju. "Tearju? What are you doing here?" she asked with interest.
"Ryoko, so you're on Earth now? What are you doing here?" Tearju asked, equally surprised.
"Nothing much, working like everyone who isn't a genius capable of inventing something that lets them live in luxury for the rest of their lives."
"Hehe." Tearju laughed foolishly at her words.
"That wasn't a compliment" Mikado interrupted bluntly.
"E-eh? It wasn't?"
"Ugh, it looks like you're still just as naïve as ever" Mikado sighed. "So, what are you doing on Earth? And with that group of troublemakers, no less."
"Ehehe, my daughter personally called me" Tearju laughed happily once again with pride.
"You have a daughter?" Mikado raised an eyebrow as she looked over the group before stopping at Yami. "I should've guessed only you could create something like this.
So you came to visit me just to show her off?"
"Eh? No, I didn't even know you were here" Tearju answered honestly.
"You..."
Before Mikado could react to Tearju's frustrating honesty, Yami spoke.
"I brought her. I wanted you two to meet."
"Really? We studied together, so there wasn't much need for that anyway" Mikado replied dismissively. "Besides, you and I barely know each other."
"Nn." Yami shook her head. "You took care of me when I first arrived on Earth."
"It was only for a couple of days, and besides, it was my job" Mikado dismissed it.
"Even so, thank you very much" Yami said with a small bow.
"You're a good girl." Mikado smiled and patted her on the head without resisting. "Please don't grow up to become an idiot like your mother."
"Impossible" Yami denied immediately.
"Eh? Ryoko? I thought we were friends."
"I don't have friends as foolish as you. Now hurry up and get out of here. I want to go back to sleep."
"But it's already past noon?"
"So what? Just let me sleep in peace" Mikado said as she pushed Tearju out of the infirmary.
The rest said goodbye and quickly left as well.
"Wow, I never expected Ryoko to be on Earth and to have taken care of Yami. The universe really is a small place" Tearju smiled, becoming happier and happier.
"Tearju-sensei, so you studied together with Mikado-sensei?!" Lala immediately became interested and started asking about her childhood.
Tearju, with her gentle personality, was quickly overwhelmed by Lala's enthusiasm and answered her questions with a mixture of nervousness and nostalgia.
______________________________________
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)