Chapter 167: Mikan Gathers Her Courage
"The incomplete Space Overlord Art has already reached its limit…"
Only now did Franklin snap out of sage mode. Cold sweat instantly covered his forehead.
He'd thought about everything except the fact that his main cultivation technique had hit a dead end. How was he supposed to improve his base strength now? He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
At least the mission board still had the designated task option. He could just set the target to "a cultivation method that starts from the Nascent Soul stage for the Space Overlord Art." Then let the Dimensional Heavenly Tome handle the location and timing. Safety wasn't guaranteed, but at least there was hope.
He looked at Ryōko Mikado sleeping peacefully beside him, her perfect face completely relaxed. Franklin used gentle water-based spiritual energy to clean them both, then tucked her in under the blanket.
Unable to resist, he leaned over and lightly kissed her cheek.
"I was going to ask why the house can't be scanned with divine sense from the outside, but whatever. It works, that's all that matters."
Just as he turned to leave, Franklin suddenly remembered that ever since he got the Eye of True Sight, he had never once used it on Ryōko.
He poured spiritual energy into his eyes. Countless little data windows popped up in his vision. After scanning everything, the only box that could possibly belong to Ryōko showed three question marks.
Franklin couldn't believe it. He wanted to wake her up and talk, but when he saw how peacefully she was sleeping, he gently shook his head.
He floated lightly to the elevator, rode it upstairs, and circulated his technique to return his mind to its usual calm state.
The elevator doors slid open. Bulma was pacing right outside.
"You're finally up! Seriously, what were you and Ryōko-nee doing down there? The elevator was completely disabled for a while."
"The elevator stopped working?"
Realizing the reason, and seeing the confused look on Bulma's face, Franklin decided not to hide it. He locked eyes with her, his gaze full of meaning.
"Take a guess."
The second their eyes met, Bulma understood.
"You… you're on fire today. Two in one day."
As she spoke, she reached out and poked him in the side. Franklin didn't dodge. When her finger hit him, he felt an overwhelming emptiness.
Seeing the slight change in his expression, Bulma threw up her hands.
"You really got completely drained. There's not a drop of yang energy left. I've been waiting years for my turn, and you go and empty the tank."
Seeing her puffed-up cheeks, Franklin gave an embarrassed smile and scratched his head.
"I recover fast. Tomorrow I'll be back to full strength, promise."
Bulma looked at him with total skepticism. Franklin immediately felt guilty—he honestly had no idea how long it would take to recover. He'd never gone this wild before.
Guess I need to find a technique that specifically boosts a guy's stamina, or with this many girls I'm gonna get sucked dry.
"What are you two talking about? Bulma-nee, didn't you go down to call Franklin and Ryōko-nee for dinner? Why'd it take so long?"
Mikan walked over to the living-room window and saw only Franklin.
She looked confused. "Where's Ryōko-nee? Why is it just you, big brother?"
"Uh… Ryōko-nee's asleep. We can leave her alone tonight, she'll be fine."
Seeing the meaningful look on Franklin's face, Mikan instantly blushed.
"…Big brother—no, today you're definitely my cool big brother. You're doing the Su family proud."
After forcing the words out, Mikan turned bright red and bolted away. Bulma and Franklin exchanged a glance, dropped the previous topic, and followed her into the dining room.
Dinner was dead silent. Mikan's face stayed red. Momo watched Franklin with a faint smile. Bulma looked perfectly neutral. Ikaros was as blank as ever. Only Nana kept glaring daggers at Franklin until he started getting nervous.
After using spiritual energy to clean the kitchen, Nana shot Franklin one last fierce glare and stormed back to her room. Momo gave Franklin a small smile that said "everything's fine" and followed her sister.
Bulma made a hand gesture at Franklin, got gently turned down, huffed, and stomped upstairs. That left only Franklin, Mikan, and Ikaros in the living room.
"So you really went and got with Ryōko-nee too?"
Seeing Mikan's red face and the disbelief in her eyes, Franklin nodded lightly.
"To be accurate, Ryōko-nee—after taking the Youth Retaining Pill—is the one who took me. Man… her appearance changed the most out of everyone.
That's my fault for taking it for granted that she'd always be here with us. It won't happen again. I'm never ignoring Ryōko-nee's feelings or her presence ever again."
Seeing how serious he was, Mikan's eyes darted around. Her face got redder and redder until she finally worked up the courage.
"Big brother… I love you too. Please don't ignore me either, okay?"
The sudden confession caught Franklin completely off guard.
"Mikan… when you say 'love,' do you mean love-love, or…?"
"Big brother, I'm in love with you. No other guy will ever be good enough for me. And I refuse to believe you'd just let someone else have your little sister."
Her face was so red it looked like it might start bleeding, but her eyes stayed locked and determined. Franklin froze.
"No, wait, that's not the same thing at all! 'Letting someone else have you' has nothing to do with this kind of love!"
"Hmph! Anyway, I love you, big brother. I've told you now. And I'm not your real sister, so it doesn't matter. It's up to you what you do about it."
Mikan—face burning—jumped up and ran off. A second later they heard her door slam. Franklin just sat there stunned.
"It's only the weekend… how did so much happen?"
Right now Franklin felt lost and a little helpless.
"Mikan's probably still too young. She can't tell the difference between liking someone and being in love yet. Yeah… it's gotta be that 'I wanna marry my big brother' phase little sisters go through."
After calming himself with that bit of self-delusion, Franklin looked at the only person still in the living room—Ikaros.
"Ikaros, artificial angels don't need sleep, right?"
Ikaros, who had been quietly listening the whole time, immediately turned to him. "Yes, Master."
The short, direct answer left Franklin momentarily speechless.
"Uh… well, I don't technically need sleep either, but lately I've been playing this full-dive VR game.
Hey, Ikaros, come upstairs with me for a sec. If you can play Sword Art Online too, then everything will be a lot easier."