Book 7: Chapter 17:

When Ryouta finally made it downstairs, he saw everybody sitting in the lounge area relaxing and talking to each other. It sounded like Tabitha just finished explaining the plot of some anime about magical girls, so he picked a good time to come and interrupt them. “Morning,” he said despite it clearly no longer being morning.

“It’s about time,” Cassandra replied from the oversized chair that she had all to herself.

“Sorry. It took me a while to actually get up, then I thought I’d check up on Saya before—” Ryouta froze when he noticed the maids standing along the wall. That red color quickly returned to his cheeks. “Uh… yeah. I – I checked up on Saya. She says hi.”

“Something’s suspicious,” Eva said. “This warrants an investigation.”

“What – what makes you think something’s suspicious?”

“You’re bright red even though all you did was talk about Saya. That means something embarrassing must have happened. Not to mention that you took a look at the maids before you began – wait… perhaps the part about Saya is irrelevant. What matters is that you looked at the maids before blushing, and they did come down here right before you did.”

“Wait! You’re – you’re jumping to dangerous conclusions!” Ryouta made sure to look at Kris and shake his head. “All I did was… Saya… wanted a kiss, and she had an idea of me kissing the screen, and that was when they walked in.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t an affair with the maids.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

Eva shrugged and sunk back into the couch she was on between Serra and Alice.

“Ah, how tragic,” Alice said. “To desire a kiss but to be unable to due to technology. Well, I admire your attempt, my hero.”

“That makes me feel even more embarrassed.” With a defeated sigh, Ryouta walked over to where Cassandra was sitting and pushed himself onto the chair between her and its left side. She wasn’t too happy about having the free space stolen from her until she felt Ryouta wrap an arm around her shoulders. Maybe him taking the space wasn’t that bad. “So, what were we talking about?”

“Our futures,” Eva answered.

“What did magical girls have to do with that?”

“Nothin’,” Tabitha answered. “I just felt like talkin’ about it. Wanted to convince the others to give it a shot. Then Red there interrupted me and we started fightin’ over which mechas were the best, so I put him in his place, and only just finished my original recommendation.”

“Makes sense. So, it comes to futures – like, are we talking about where we see ourselves in five years or something?”

“Essentially, my hero!” Alice answered.

“Did I miss anybody talk about it?”

“We were only just beginning!”

Ryouta yawned and said, “Nice. Sounds interesting. So, if you were starting with Tabs – want to go first still?”

Tabitha leaned back and thought about it for a few seconds before answering, “The future, huh? Heck if I know. I like to focus on the present, leave the future to future me. Maybe I’ll have my own shop where I tinker and repair people’s antique machines. Maybe I’ll get hired by a secret organization and get tasked with buildin’ a giant mecha to fight some aliens. Who knows.”

“That second option sounds pretty cool.”

“Unfortunately, it’s the unrealistic one. Most likely, I’ll probably end up workin’ as an apprentice to some old guy who knows less than me, work my way into his will, and inherit his shop once he dies then rename it in my name.”

“That sounds way less cool and way more manipulative.”

“Listen, ya do what ya gotta do. Plus, if ya think about it, inheritin’ his place will be better for me than startin’ up my own. I’ll get to inherit all his clients and reputation instead of havin’ to build those up all on my own. And I guess there’s always a chance that I might learn a thing or two from him.”

“You’re ruthless,” Kris said. “You would’ve been one of those billionaires if you were born a century sooner.”

“Ah, now that’d be nice. Imagine how much power I would’ve had. All those corrupt fools back then – I would’ve been able to stop this world from going to shit if I had the money to back then. Use all my money to bribe politicians into doin’ the right thing for once.”

Cassandra clearly wasn’t buying it. “You probably would’ve ended up as corrupt as the rest of them. Everybody thinks they’ll do the right thing when they’re in that position until they are. Once they have all that money and power, they realize it’s nice and prefer to keep it that way.”

Tabitha smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. “I can’t say you’re wrong. I know it might be hard for some to believe, but I ain’t perfect.”

“Nobody believes you are,” Kris said.

Tabitha stuck her tongue out at Kris before pointing a finger at him. “What about you? What do you want in the future?”

Now it was Kris’s turn to grab his chin and think about it. “I don’t really care about my career or anything. I do what I do because it’s interesting and lets me feel useful to society, but it’s not a part of my future, I guess. Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I understand,” Ryouta said.

“Knew you would, bro. But uh, I guess when it comes to actual future stuff,” Kris rubbed the back of his head, “I guess I just want a wife and kids. Being a dad sounds real nice. Don’t think I’m ready for it yet, but I’ll do my best to get there.”

“Is there a reason for your doubt?” Alice asked.

“It’s just – you know, it wasn’t that long ago that I first met all of you. You remember how I was. I barely even knew how to talk to a girl then and thought it was alright to try and look under Olly’s dress to see what he was.”

Ryouta sighed as the girls cringed at the memory. “Well,” Ryouta said, “the good news is that you were… kind of respectful, even back then. You still listened whenever somebody said no or to stop, stopped flirting with them as soon as you realized they were dating me, and never tried making anybody feel uncomfortable outside of the dress thing.”

“Thanks, bro. I’ve really been trying ever since then. I guess you helped me realize that just because it was a game, that didn’t mean to stop treating people like people. I kind of forgot about that. Realizing that made me think a lot about myself and how I treat people. In real life, too. It was like I became conscious all the time of how I’m acting.”

“I am glad to know that you have improved so much!” Alice said. “I recall not exactly being that fond of you when you first showed up, but I must admit that you are much more pleasant now.” Alice took a peek over at the maids. Then she looked back at Kris. “It would not surprise me if you already have several women hoping for you now. I must admit, there is something about you that draws a sort of… helpful urge. With how honest and kind you have become, it is easy to find oneself drawn to you in a desire to help you better yourself even more. Those who wish to help themselves often draw the most assistance from others, after all.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. It would not surprise me if you find a woman, or perhaps multiple, who would love to help you improve yourself even moreso than you have already done. If anything, that is most likely the kind of woman who would be perfect for you. The kind of woman who loves to help others and take care of them. One could almost say… like a maid who is passionate about her job.” The next time that Alice peeked over at the maids, none of them were looking in their direction anymore. Instead, they all found various objects to dust despite there not being a single speck of dust anywhere on them.

Rao chuckled a little with a bit of a blush coloring his cheeks. “Heh… I never really thought about it that way. Thanks. You made me feel a bit more hopeful about the whole thing. Maybe I won’t be single until the grave after all. Ah… man, but now that you’ve given me hope, I won’t be able to stop thinking about it. This happens every time I get hope. I start thinking of a bunch of different date ideas, what kind of house I’d want to build for us, baby names and all that, getting anniversary plans ready – like, you ever see those videos of couples where one of them would do something like save something up for over twenty years and then give it as an anniversary present? Like taking pictures for over twenty years with the plan of eventually turning it into a super awesome gift? That’s the kind of stuff II want to do, but you need to plan that stuff seriously ahead of time. Makes me pretty nervous thinking about how long I’d have to be preparing that for, but I’m excited. I’m going to have all sorts of plans ready to go into action as soon as I find somebody.”

Ryouta was impressed. He knew that Kris liked the maids, yet Kris was able to talk so openly about all of this right in front of them where they would definitely be able to hear every single thing he had to say. One more think that such a thing was almost manipulative as if Kris was saying all these things because he knew they would be able to hear him. But Ryouta knew that Kris wasn’t like that. Instead of talking about all of that in some sort of secret way to hopefully win points over the maids, Kris was simply being honest and open with his friends.

There was something else that Ryouta felt, too.

Fear.

Kris was sitting there talking about all these romantic, long-term plans that he had. He talked about dates, anniversary plans, and so on. Meanwhile, Ryouta had to admit that most of those things never really crossed his mind. Sure, they went on dates every now and then, but he never once thought about anniversary plans. No, now that he thought about it… he never even thought of birthday plans. What would he even get them for their birthdays? What kind of presents would they like?

Ryouta realized he seriously needed to up his boyfriend game. If it wasn’t for knowing that Kris would never think of stealing his girlfriends for even a microsecond, he would have imagined Kris walking away from him with his arms around his girlfriends.

When did this happen? Ryouta thought. When did Kris become such a cool and romantic guy? He went from borderline sexually harassing Olly and flirting with every girl who breathed to being so chill and smooth. He thinks that he has to learn from me, but I think I might have to learn from him.

“How about you, bro?” Kris asked Ryouta.

“What?” Ryouta asked back.

“Your future. Where do you see yourself and all that? What do you want to do?”

“Uh… I’m not sure. If it were up to me, things would continue like they always have. I guess with kids thrown into the mix, too. And I’d be married to everybody by then. Other than that, no idea.”

“What about a career?” Azalabulia asked. “Even if we don’t need the money, do you have one you would like to pursue anyways?”

Ryouta scratched his cheek. “Don’t think so. I guess I’ve kind of always wanted to help people, but I don’t think I’m cut out for stuff like being a firefighter or paramedic. I’m not a good teacher, either.”

“What about therapy?”

“I can’t imagine myself being a therapist. I’d have to listen to people’s problems all day without constantly telling them exactly how to fix them. I don’t think I’d be able to handle keeping my mouth shut that much.”

Eva shrugged. “You do fine listening to us.”

“Yeah, but I love you, I don’t love random people.”

“Good point.”

“Why don’t you become a massage person?” Cassandra asked.

“A masseuse,” Eva corrected.

“A-ah… it’s a masseur,” Azalabulia corrected the correcting. “Masseuse is a woman who provides massages. Masseur is for men.”

“Seriously? That sounds backwards.”

“I promise.”

“Huh. Well, you’re the teacher, so I’ll take your word for it.”

“I would normally suggest being critical of somebody even if they are a teacher… but I promise I’m right.”

“A masseur?” Ryouta asked, thinking it over a little. “I… guess it’s not something that I can’t imagine myself doing. Plus if I learn how to give good massages, I’ll be able to give you all massages. A massage a day will keep the divorce away, right?”

Most of his girlfriends found his joke at least a bit amusing, but Cassandra only rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you before that the only way to make me leave you is to purposely try and screw things up.”

“I know. What about you, Cass? Your turn.”

“I have no idea.”

“You can’t just copy my homework like that.”

Cassandra nudged him with her elbow. “Seriously. I don’t know. I’m happy as long as I’m with all of you still, so nothing else really matters. I’ll probably have some hobbies by then or something to do.”

“Fair enough. Eva?”

“Exploring the world,” Eva answered. “Don’t worry, I don’t expect all of you to come with me or anything every time, but it’ll be alright if I leave for a few months at times to go exploring other countries, right? Don’t worry, I promise I’ll stay faithful while gone.”

“I don’t think any of us are worried about you cheating on us while you’re gone. And I’d try to go with you at least some of the time.”

“Yeah. I figure that between all of you, I’ll always be able to convince at least one of you to come with me. Oh, and I’d like to explore more virtual worlds. I figure that if we have FTO now, just imagine what sort of games there might be to explore in a few years or even a decade from now. I’ll never run out of places to explore. Maybe something with dinosaurs? Oh, that’s what we need. We need a game like FTO but with dinosaurs instead of fantasy. Well, maybe some fantasy would be allowed. Like wyverns and griffins.”

“That could be fun.”

“I’d play it,” Cassandra said. “Taming an army of dinosaurs and leading them on a rampage sounds like it’d be fun.”

“Wait,” Ryouta said. “Cass, you’re starting to sound like me. Am I rubbing off on you?”

“What? I’ve always been interested in stuff like that. Large-scale warfare. That was part of why I wanted to be an angel. Angels were both elite members of the military and also served as commanders at times. I wanted to be an angel leading a legion of soldiers to war.”

“That makes me want to raise an army just for you to lead.”

“Pfft. I’ve given up on that.”

Ryouta smiled but decided against saying anything else.

“Aza? Your turn,” Eva said.

“I… will have to agree with Ryouta,” Azalabulia answered. “I would love if things stayed the same. But… if we have… lots – lots of… kids by then, then… I see myself teaching all of them. No matter how many we have, I’ll teach all of them.”

A flashback to last night forced itself into Ryouta’s mind. Somehow, bringing up probably having kids didn’t affect him, but what Azalabulia just said did. It was time to change the subject. “Great answer, Aza.” She looked happy from the praise. “Alice?”

“Hmm. I would like to work with a performance company at least once! I am not sure which sort of role I would play, but I would be happy for any opportunity to perform in front of an audience!” Alice answered. “Posting videos online sounds enjoyable as well. I am not sure which sort I would post, though. There are enough people who do makeup tutorials and the like. Perhaps—”

“Be a vtuber,” Ryouta interjected.

“Oh! I have seen those before! They have made a recent comeback in popularity, yes?”

“Yeah. They ended up taking over the internet back when they first became a thing, and now they’re getting popular again. With how you’re able to play a character, you should definitely try it.”

“Ah… I never considered it, but now that you have brought it up, I am tempted to invest in that right away before the trend dies again.”

“Then we can look into it once we’re home. I have no doubt you’d get insanely popular.”

Alice giggled with a hand raised over her mouth. “And the technology is so much better than it was back then! Before I get any more excited, perhaps it is time to ask Serra for what she wishes for in the future. Serra?”

Serra wasn’t paying too much attention to following the conversation since she was busy dealing with the uncomfortable pain left from the previous night, but she understood enough to know what was going on and that it was her turn.

She really didn’t expect herself to be the one who felt the most pain the day after.

“Hay-at-home wife,” Serra answered out loud. She didn’t expect Kris nor Tabitha to be able to read sign language, and she was confident in her ability to pronounce her answer, so she went for it.

And it was just the sort of simple and honest answer that everybody expected from her.

Then she had an idea.

“Lay-at-home wife,” Serra said with a smug expression and slight wiggle of her eyebrows.

And there was the answer that they all should have expected instead.

The conversation continued for some time after that. Later in the day, they ended up going out to the city for a tour where they took plenty of pictures, ate plenty of local food, and had plenty of fun together. The next couple of days were more or less the same. They’d start each day relaxing and talking about various things as they figured out how they’d want to spend the rest of the day. One day, they went bowling and learned that William was a terrifying force when it came to throwing a ball down a lane. The next day, they planned on going to the ocean for a swim so that Ryouta could finally have his own beach episode full of bikini fanservice, but a storm ruined the opportunity and his dreams.

Then the final day came. With it came a morning of early goodbyes as Tabitha and Kris had their flights home before everybody else.

Kris ended up being the first to cry for the day. “Bro… I’m going to miss you,” Kris said as he almost lifted Ryouta up off the ground with his hug.

“Re-relax,” Ryouta said as he hugged back. “You’ll see me in-game as much as always.”

“Yeah, but you’re so much cooler in-game.”

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re way shorter in real life. If I hugged you like this in-game, it’d be weird. But you’re like this in real life, so I can hug you.”

“Wait… is that why you seem way more affectionate in real life? Because I’m smaller?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know how to feel about this.”

Ryouta could hear his girlfriends trying not to laugh behind them.

“Oi, Red, relax,” Tabitha said.

Kris sniffled and let Ryouta down, allowing Tabitha to push the taller man aside to take his place.

Rather than cry or anything like that, Tabitha stuck a hand out to Ryouta. “Nice meetin’ ya, Captain Dog or whatever it is that I call ya. I’ll see ya back in-game.”

Ryouta smiled and accepted her hand for a shake. “Thanks. I’ll look forward to seeing what you create now that real life won’t be taking you away from the game.”

“Heh. Look forward to it!”

Tabitha didn’t waste any time getting into the autocar after that. She already said her goodbyes to the girls, as did Kris. However, Kris didn’t follow her in. He looked at the maids first and took a deep breath so that he could muster the courage to say, “Thanks – thanks for uh… taking care of us. Also, I just uh… wanted to say that I hope I can see you again. Or something like that. Yeah, uh, anyways, thanks for everything, and I won’t forget any of you.”

Ryouta didn’t want to call that a confession. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to call that. All he knew was that it was awkward and that Kris definitely still had some things to learn. That was good for his ego at least. Ryouta wasn’t sure what to believe if Kris really became smoother than him.

Kris might have excelled at being honest and open, but Ryouta still won when it came to actually taking action.

Ryouta gave Kris a pat on the back as Kris hurried into the car next to Tabitha.

The maids then followed, subtle smiles on their faces.

“Ah, I wonder if he forgot that they would be accompanying them to the airport,” Alice said.

Ryouta completely forgot about that part and looked at the car with wide eyes full of worry for his bro.

After that embarrassing whatever-it-was to the maids, Kris would now be stuck in a car with them all the way to the airport. To make matters worse, Tabitha was there and there was an incredibly high chance of teasing from her.

Ryouta said that he would see Kris again in-game, but he wasn’t so sure about that now. Now… there was a chance that the Kris he’d see in-game wouldn’t be the same Kris after that autocar ride.

The next tears came later in the day when it came time for Azalabulia and Eva’s flights. Azalabulia in particular cried until everybody’s shirt had at least one wet region on it from her tears while hugging.

“It will be alright, my dearest Azalabulia,” Alice said. “Once you have finished your preparations, you are welcome to move in with us at any time. You said yourself that it should not be more than another few months, yes?”

“I – I know,” Azalabulia answered, “but… I’ve never been happier. Being with all of you is the happiest I have ever been in real life… and now I have to leave.”

Even Alice felt moved to tears from that. She wasn’t the only one, either. All of them were a bit teary-eyed from the situation.

Ryouta wanted to cheer her up, but he had no idea how to.

That was until he came with an idea.

“Aza,” Ryouta said.

“Ye-yes?” Azalabulia asked.

“We’re going dragon taming once we’re back in-game.”

Azalabulia’s eyes widened… and the tears flowed even harder as she wrapped Ryouta up in her arms for an incredibly tight hug.

“I – I wanted to make you cry less. I was hoping that,” he found it difficult to breathe within her grasp, “that I’d replace the sadness with excitement.”

“You – you diiidddd! I – I’m so excited! I can’t wait!” Azalabulia whined and cried.

Azalabulia and dragons reminded Ryouta of that one famous, blonde actress from the start of the century and sloths. But, as long as these were excited tears rather than sad tears, that was alright.

While Azalabulia continued squeezing the life out of Ryouta, Eva gave the other girls a final hug for the time being. “I had a really nice time, plus I got to explore a bit more of the world. So, thanks for that,” Eva said. “And I’ll try to get my stuff in order soon, too. I know I’ve been in this relationship for the shortest, but I’ll feel left out if everybody else except for me lives together.”

“We’ll be waiting for you,” Cassandra said. “So, hurry up.”

Eva wiped a tear away from her eye and nodded. “I will. Promise. Until then, you’re going to have to deal with me being even clingier in-game to make up for missing you in real life. Deal?”

“Deal.” To further make it an official deal, Cassandra took the initiative and placed a kiss on Eva’s lips. “But seriously, don’t make us wait too long.”

“Heh. I won’t, I won’t.”

As the maids finished packing everything into the autocar, Azalabulia finally let go of Ryouta. Had she been in a sounder state of mind, she would have noticed and apologized for the giant wet area on Ryouta’s shirt. Instead, she proceeded to leave a similar area on everybody else’s shirt despite their clothes never having a chance to dry from her first teary assaults.

And with their leave, only four were left.

When it finally came time for Ryouta, Serra, Alice, and Cassandra to head home, the girls all said their goodbye to William and the maids first so that Ryouta could have a private moment with him.

And now it was time for Ryouta to say what was on his mind.

But first, a thanks. “Thanks for everything,” Ryouta said. “If it wasn’t for you, this trip never would have happened, and we all really loved it.”

William smiled and placed a hand on top of Ryouta’s shoulder. “The pleasure has been all mine! I cannot remember the last time this place was full of so many smiles and so much laughter. I am truly happy that you all enjoyed one another’s company as much as you did.”

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to say, but I haven’t really had a chance to say it.”

“Is something the matter?” William could tell from the sudden change in Ryouta’s tone to something more serious that something was wrong.

“Nothing is right now. It’s just…” Ryouta took a deep breath and sighed. “Uh, when we in the golf cart the other day, and you drove fast – I should have said this back then, but I really wasn’t comfortable with that. I was… honestly afraid, but I felt like I had to keep up a face in front of you. I thought you might not think I’m worth Alice or something if I was afraid from something like that, so—”

And the hugging continued. This time, it was William who wrapped his arms around Ryouta. “I am deeply sorry, Ryouta. Had I paid more attention, perhaps I would have noticed and changed. I have no excuse.”

“No, no – you didn’t do anything wrong. It was all on me and my own self-consciousness.”

William gave Ryouta’s back a couple of smacks before grabbing onto his shoulders and looking him in the eyes. “I can tell that neither of us will relent on absolving the other of blame, so allow me to propose this. I will do my best to be more attentative, and you will be more honest. We will both be men and try our hardest to improve ourselves!”

Ryouta really didn’t believe that William had anything to improve, but he did agree that neither of them would convince the other that it was alright. “Deal. And there’s… one more thing.”

“Yes? Please, whatever it is, do tell me.”

“I just wanted to say that I believe AIs are real and worthy of as much respect and care as the rest of us.”

“Ah, is this about what I said on the first day?”

“Yeah.”

“I see. Well, while I will admit that I may not share the same beliefs as you, I will keep an open mind and I promise that I will give the topic further research.”

“Thanks. That’s already more than I was hoping for.”

William smiled once more and gave Ryouta another few smacks, this time on his shoulders. “Is there anything else?”

“That’s everything. Thanks for listening to me.”

“Of course, Ryouta. You are the man who will one day be my son-in-law, so you are welcome to talk to me whenever you wish! Even when we are on opposing sides of the ocean once more, you are welcome to reach out to me and talk whenever you need to! You are even welcome to request a private flight here in case you ever need a break from all the women. We will spend private time together as men!”

Ryouta doubted that he would ever accept that offer, but he still smiled and nodded. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Now that everything was wrapped up with William, Ryouta could meet up with the others at the autocar and head to the airport. But, of course, William wasn’t about to let Ryouta go without one last hug.

It was almost midnight when they finally made it home.

Ryouta walked through the front door of their home and flicked on the light switch. While they might not have lived in their house together for too long of a time, it was their home and felt immediately comforting to them. It was nice to be back after spending even just a week away from it. That was why the first thing they did upon entering the living room was collapse onto the couch and stretch out. Ryouta made sure to pick up Alice from her wheelchair so that she could join them in sprawling out on the couch.

“I’m so tired,” Ryouta said with his arms stretched out over the top of the couch.

Cassandra sighed. She wanted to nod her head, but even that sounded like too much effort. “Same.”

Meanwhile, Alice had just enough energy to lazily pet Serra since Serra took it upon herself to seat her body atop Alice. “Perhaps we should sleep here for the night?” Alice proposed.

“I can already imagine the back pain in the morning if we sleep here like this,” Ryouta answered.

“Ah, I had not considered that. Well! We can always head to bed right away. Our belongings do not need unpacked right away. Though, it would be wise to shower and switch into clean clothes first.”

“Why?” Cassandra asked.

“Well, who knows what germs we may have picked up in the airport! We should not even be on the couch like this before getting cleaned up.”

“But it wasn’t an issue at your dad’s.”

“That is because he has a team of maids who made sure that everything was clean. Even if you sat on his couch with clothes caked in mud, said couch would be clean in no more than three minutes after you get up from it.”

“I guess. But you joined us on the couch.”

“Of course I did. I may know what is best for us, but could you really expect me to not want to join my lazy lovers lounging on the couch after such a long flight?”

“You lazy princess,” Ryouta spoke up.

“I am the laziest of all princesses.”

“Are there even enough princesses left in the world for you to have any competition there?”

“Considering that I am the only one I really know, and even I am not legally considered such anymore, I would have to say most likely not.”

“Then if there’s no competition, you’re the laziest, but also the most energetic.”

“That is true. I am the top in all fields among princesses.”

“So, you’re the most perverted degenerate princess, but also the most innocent and pure.”

“Exactly! I may play the role of both the corrupted and perverse princess who eagerly throws herself at those raiding her castle, or I may play the innocent and pure princess who must be broken via force until her mind is incapable of thinking of anything other than debaucherous thoughts. Speaking of which, I do believe we need to have a fun play sometime soon. I do have oh so many scenarios I would love to play through with all of you.”

“Definitely the most degenerate and most energetic,” Cassandra said.

Ryouta wasn’t sure how he was supposed to reply due to his mind being so tired. So, rather than reply, he closed his eyes and got a bit comfier. One of his hands might have just so happened to find its way to Cassandra’s chest where he gave her a gentle squeeze.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Cassandra asked.

“My hand needs a pillow, too,” Ryouta explained as his other hand reached down to Serra’s chest. Serra might not have had as much to grab as Cassandra, but that didn’t stop him from giving her chest just as much attention.

Cassandra gave little reaction to his tired groping but Serra looked proud and smug to have her chest groped.

“Your hands have excellent taste, my hero, but they are missing something even more superior when it comes to Serra,” Alice said.

Ryouta tilted his head. Well, he thought about tilting his head. Even that took too much effort. “What?”

To demonstrate, Alice stopped petting Serra’s head to instead bring both of her hands down to Serra’s thighs. Serra shivered from the sudden touch but was happy to receive it. “This, of course!”

“If I try to touch her thighs from here, I’m going to end up at her crotch instead.”

“I do not believe Serra would mind that in the slightest.”

“You have a point. Let me use another excuse then. If I try reaching over there, we’re going to start looking like some sort of abomination of limbs reaching everywhere.”

As if trying to make Ryouta’s exaggeration a reality, Serra reached behind her and placed a single hand against his crotch. She pressed firmly enough so that she could feel one of her favorite parts of his body, but that was all she did. She didn’t mean to be sexual or to try and get him excited or anything. It was simply that, in the same way Ryouta felt comfort with their chests, she felt comfort from the warmth of his crotch.

Cassandra wasn’t about to be the only one left out of touching somebody else. That was why she placed a hand on top of the one groping her from Ryouta before leaning against his side, resting her head on the top of his shoulder. “We should probably get in bed before we pass out.”

“Yeah, probably,” Ryouta said.

Despite them all being more or less in agreement that they should get into bed, none of them found the energy to do so. They simply kept agreeing that they should go to bed while staying cuddling and groping on the couch.

Then came the silence. Their eyes were closed and each one of them probably thought that everybody else was asleep. The only noise that could be heard were their gentle breaths.

It was only when Ryouta spoke up that the silence broke. “Hey… I kind of want to immerse.”

“My hero, you are aware of what time it is and how tired we all are, yes?” Alice asked.

“Yeah, but it’s been like, a whole week since we’ve immersed. I feel like coming home isn’t really complete until I see Rock again. You know, one of the best parts is coming home and having a pet jump all over you from missing you.”

“Hmm. I suppose that I see your point. I will admit that I may have a bit of an itch to get back into the body of Nell, if only for a bit.”

“Same,” Cassandra said.

“Oh? I would have thought you would be too tired to enter me,” Alice teased.

“You know what I meant. Immersing and playing for a bit sounds fun. Even if it’s only to kill a couple of monsters to make sure that I haven’t forgotten how to fight.”

“Ah, and here I would be content with gazing at the sky and feeling the ocean breeze against my face. I suppose that going on a quick hunt with you does not sound too bad, though.”

“That sounds fun,” Ryouta agreed. “We can take Rock and Shogun with us. Oh, and Saya if she’s decided on how she wants to fight yet.”

Cassandra took her phone out, typed a message, and held it above Serra’s face. When she noticed that Serra’s eyes were still closed, she tapped the phone against Serra’s forehead to grab her attention before holding the phone still again. Serra gave a thumbs-up and nodded her head once she read the message.

It seemed like they were all in the mood to get back in-game after spending an entire week’s worth of time in the real world.

They might have all been a bit more addicted than they realized.

“Alright,” Ryouta said. “Let’s get back to the grind.”