Book 2: Chapter 64: Patch 11.0: The Not-So-Delusional Princess

Ryouta ends up renting an autocar from the airport, and the cost of it makes him cringe. But, it is the only way that he can realistically get all of Nell’s luggage back to his place. He has no idea where it’s going to go once it’s there, but that’s something they’ll have to worry about once they get to that point.

“By the way, this feels really awkward considering that I’m only just now asking, but uhh, what’s your real name?” Ryouta asks Nell.

“Oh! My real name is Alice Lockton!” Nell – Alice answers.

“Alice. I like that name; it’s pretty.”

“As pretty as I am?” Alice teases, poking his arm.

Ryouta may be affectionate, but when around others in public, it’s still embarrassing. “I don’t think a name could ever be as pretty as you are,” he tries to be smooth, but most of his effort goes into resisting cringing at his own words.

Of course, as much as he may want to cringe, Alice relishes in the cheesy affection and brightly smiles.

“Now then,” Alice says and pats her lap, “just put the suitcases on me!”

“That’s – that’s a lot of suitcases. Are you sure?” Ryouta asks.

Alice nods and pats her lap again. “I cannot feel anything there in the first place, so please go ahead and pile them on! I will just require you to push me as my hands will be busy making sure that they do not fall over.”

Ryouta may be concerned about her legs even though he knows that he doesn’t really need to be, but he’s more worried about what people are going to think when they see him pile nine suitcases onto her.

But, she looks like she’s going to insist no matter what he says, so he starts to pile the suitcases on.

“H-hey, Serra, don’t give me that look,” he says when even Serra judges him for stacking suitcases onto her. “It was her idea!” he tries explaining, speaking slowly so that she can read his lips as his hands busy with a suitcase, but Serra isn’t having any of it.

Alice looks content with all of these suitcases forming a tower on her lap, but when he looks around and sees more people stopping to watch what he’s doing, he starts feeling like a horrible boyfriend – no, just a horrible person in general.

“I – I can’t feel my legs from all of these suitcases!” Alice whines.

“I thought you couldn’t feel them at all in the first place?” Ryouta asks, looking around the suitcases to see her face.

She has a mischievous smile.

When he looks around, he sees that those judging stares are even more intense now.

Ryouta catches on to what she’s doing.

“Excuse me,” a woman says from behind them, “would you like to use this trolley?”

Ryouta looks at her and sees that she’s with the airport’s staff. That’s when he notices that there is a section of trolleys to borrow from.

“M-my hero, why do you insist on piling these heavy suitcases on me when trolleys have been right there this whole time?” Alice asks with fake pain in her voice.

Of course, when Ryouta looks at her again, he sees her trying to hold back a smile.

He looks back to see where Serra is and sees her pretending that she’s not with them.

“Yeah, umm, a trolley would be nice. Thanks,” he tells the staff member and starts taking the suitcases off of Alice’s lap to stack on the trolley.

Serra rejoins them once the trolley is loaded and still looks disappointed in Ryouta, but when he tries to explain the situation to her again, she starts giggling. The way that Serra laughs is unlike any laughter they have ever heard before. It sounds like Serra doesn’t even know how to properly laugh, but that just makes it endearingly adorable to both Ryouta and Alice.

“This is why I need Cass Cass. I’m always the bully victim when she’s not around,” Ryouta groans while pushing the trolley toward the outdoors pickup area. Serra stays behind Alice to push her wheelchair for her.

“I could tell, my hero. You always tease Cassandra, and us girls must stick together, so I shall be punishing you in her stead!” Alice explains.

“Please, that was enough punishment for a year. I’m pretty sure that everybody in there thinks that I’m a horrible person now.”

“That is most alright, my hero. You know that you being a horrible person will only give me more to fantasize about.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with you. Oh, hang on. Gotta text Cass letting her know that you got here safely. She’s never been on a plane before, and I guess she’s afraid of flying, so she was worried,” Ryouta explains while inputting a message on his phone for Cassandra.

This is the first time that Alice has heard about Cassandra being worried over her flight, and the image of Cassandra worrying about such a thing is cute and makes Alice smile even more.

“Alright, and there’s our autocar,” Ryouta says, pointing at one of the grey cars waiting in the temporary parking.

He realizes that there is a complication when they get to it.

He looks at Alice’s wheelchair then back at the car.

How is he supposed to get that in there?

Alice, seeing his silent concern, raises a hand over her mouth to giggle and then says, “Worry not, my hero. It folds.”

“Oh, alright,” Ryouta says. Now there is the problem of how she’s supposed to get inside of the car.

Alice lifts her arms up. “Lift me up, my hero,” she says, wiggling her arms in the air like an impatient child.

At least this can’t possibly look bad. He’ll look like a helpful, kind boyfriend assisting his crippled girlfriend.

That’s what he thought.

Instead, as soon as he lifts her out of her chair, she starts playfully smacking at his arms and says, “Oh noooo, I’m being kidnapped, somebody help meeeeee.”

Thankfully for Ryouta, she’s not being loud enough for the passersby to hear, and she doesn’t sound very serious about needing help.

“I’m going to get arrested if you keep this up,” Ryouta tries explaining to her, but she doesn’t seem concerned about that.

“Worry not, my hero. My family may not be officially in charge anymore, but we still have our connections! I am sure that you would be freed within a few hours, or maybe a couple of days depending on if my grandpa is away,” Alice explains.

“Here I thought I’d either be eternally single or maybe settle for some boring girlfriend who I have to calm myself down for, but instead I’ve got a princess in a wheelchair, a deaf borderline-loli who likes making things explode and is taking after my old me, and Cass Cass who is always threatening to kill me. I guess she’s the most normal out of you three.”

“Her breasts are certainly not normal, my hero. I wish I could have a pair as large as her!”

“Yeah, they are pretty big. Don’t usually see girls with boobs that big unless they weigh a few hundred pounds.”

Alice looks down at her chest and gropes herself through the flowery dress that she’s wearing, pushing them together and up to try and make them look larger. “Are my own satisfactory for you, my hero?” she asks, looking up at him and noticing that his eyes are transfixed on the little display that she’s giving him. “Such a perverted beast you are, my hero.”

“Y-yeah, they’re great. Anyways,” Ryouta turns around to try and figure out how to fold Alice’s wheelchair.

Serra is standing there with her hands on her humble chest. Her own breasts aren’t even large enough to push together, and despite having very small hands herself, she can completely cover her breasts with them.

Ryouta pats her head and signs to her that she and her boobs are both perfect.

“Boobs” is actually one of the first words he learned how to sign because it was in a top ten list that he found online of words that people want to learn when new to ASL. That list, which he thought was horribly put together at first, is now useful.

Serra hops into the car next to Alice and scoots Alice over until there is enough space for her to lie down. Serra then places her head up on top of Alice’s thighs for a proper lap pillow as Ryouta finishes loading the car.

He peeks into the back seat and is instantly jealous. He is also curious as they are both signing about something, and Alice seems awfully embarrassed about whatever they are discussing. Reading sign language from the side is still difficult for him.

When the car is finally loaded, he gets into the front seat as all automatic vehicles still legally require somebody in the front seat, and looks back at them to ask what they were talking about.

Alice looks at him and pouts. “She said she knew my thighs would be soft since my legs never get exercise! She called them soft and like jello…”

Now he’s really jealous of Serra.