"Yaaaawn" The next morning, Yuuji woke up extremely well rested, having enjoyed his sleep more than usual after such a busy day.
'Now that I think about it, Gid came to Earth with Zastin and then left, only for Zastin to come back an hour later because of the Baroz matter'
"He must have a busy job" Yuuji murmured with a bit of pity for him.
'Next time I see him, I will apologize for laughing at his nickname' he promised in his mind.
But even though he had rested extremely well, he still felt somewhat tired, not physically but mentally, he felt that yesterday he had pushed himself too much in that regard.
He was not the only one who noticed it, yesterday, before leaving the company, Ruri had said something similar.
...
"Young master, aren't you acting strange today?"
"Strange?"
"Yes, you seem less lazy, similar to the Yuuji from before"
"The Yuuji from before?"
...
At that moment, Yuuji did not understand what she meant, he even thought Ruri was talking nonsense, but now, remembering yesterday, he realized she was right.
Just as Ruri said, Yuuji acted yesterday like the Yuuji from before.
Before becoming rich, Yuuji was extremely curious, it was only after becoming rich and, according to him, having enjoyed almost everything entertaining in the world, that his personality became lazy, because he felt that every action he took was simply a repetition of something he had already done, without any novelty.
Even now, Yuuji did not really feel like getting up, because the act itself seemed boring and without any entertaining purpose.
However, yesterday he acted that way, even though the Guiana Highlands was something he had already visited before.
"How strange" Yuuji murmured as he got up, not really understanding the reason behind his own behavior.
After getting dressed and washing up, he went to the kitchen, took one of the pre-prepared breakfasts made by his mother, similar to a supermarket bento but several times superior in both taste and quality, and heated it in the microwave.
He placed it on the table, removed the cover and took his first bite of the day.
"Good morning"
"Pffft!... Coff coff coff"
At the sudden greeting, Yuuji almost choked in surprise.
"Yuuji, are you okay?" Yami asked, confused, sitting in front of him at the table.
"Yes, I just... you surprised me" Yuuji said, recovering.
'Right, she is here too' Yuuji remembered.
Actually, Yuuji had thought about giving Yami her own house or letting her stay on the employee floor of the company, but Ruri said it would be better if she lived with him.
Even though Yuuji pretended not to understand why to avoid trouble, he knew his loved ones too well.
Among all the information Mona showed Ruri about Yami were her origins.
Yuuji noticed the brief and subtle expression of compassion that Ruri directed at Yami for half a second.
With Ruri's personality, every detail of what happened last night was surely already written and organized minute by minute in a report that at this very moment was in Clara's hands, being read while she drank her usual coffee with toast.
'And considering mom's personality' Yuuji thought while looking at Yami in front of him, 'Yuuji Yami, huh? That sounds a bit strange'
Of course, even if Clara did not adopt her, Ruri would, not only out of compassion but also because of the problems that would come from having an illegal alien child working for you.
But Yuuji had more faith that Clara would do it first. He had never seen his mother lose.
"Sorry, I forgot about you for a second" he apologized. "I will prepare breakfast for you"
"No need, I already have taiyaki" Yami said as she pulled out from her hair a kind of hair sphere that contained a closed paper bag inside.
"So that is how she does it" Yuuji thought after discovering where she kept getting taiyaki from yesterday.
"Did you buy that or is it from yesterday? We can buy something today if you want"
Yami thought for a second before nodding. "Alright, when?"
"In half an hour. On the way to the high school," Yuuji replied. "The company is in the same direction anyway"
Yami nodded, understanding the plan.
"Then will we go with Lala?" she asked after a while.
"Hm? Why?"
"Don't you go together? Isn't she your girlfriend?"
"No, she is not..." Halfway through the sentence, Yuuji stopped.
Actually, even though they were neighbors and in the same class, the reason why Lala and Yuuji did not go together was because Yuuji simply used Gate to get there in a second, saving himself the boring walk.
"But now that I will walk, I guess we can go together" Yuuji murmured.
With that in mind, Yuuji decided to go ask Lala. There was still almost half an hour before leaving, but it was better to make sure, especially considering that Lala and unexpected events tend to go together most of the time.
Thus, with a plan in mind, in just a few seconds Yuuji was already at the house next door, with Yami beside him for no real reason.
Ding Dong
The doorbell rang, followed by the sound of someone running toward the door.
"Yes?" a hurried female voice sounded.
There was Mikan, wearing her elementary school uniform and looking rushed.
"Ah! Yuuji, I will call Lala right away, sorry but I have to go," Mikan was about to turn around to call Lala at full speed when she noticed a familiar small figure with golden hair beside Yuuji. "Yami?"
"Mikan?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I live there" she said, pointing at Yuuji's house.
"I see. Ah! I live here, with Lala. Sorry for not telling you before. But, you are living with Yuuji? Ah! No, I do not have time, sorry"
"Mikan!" Seeing the hurried Mikan trying to handle multiple things at once, Yuuji stopped her. "I will talk to Lala, Yami can walk you to school, talk on the way"
"Thank you very much, I will go then" Mikan bowed twice in gratitude and immediately left walking quickly, afraid of being late.
"I will go with her" Yami said goodbye and followed her.
Yuuji watched them leave, after a few meters, Mikan finally calmed down and began walking more slowly, talking to Yami, who just listened and nodded.
'Too busy' Yuuji thought.
"Mikan?"
Right after she left, Rito came out, confused that Mikan had not returned after going to answer the door.
"Rito. Making your little sister answer the door even though she has to leave? Really?"
"I...Mikan usually handles it so I got used to... No, wait! Yuuji? What are you doing here? And Mikan?"
"She already left for school. Is Lala here?"
"...Yes, I will call her" after thinking for a moment and not understanding the chain of events that led to the current situation, Rito simply gave up and went to call Lala.
"Now that I think about it, without Yami what is the point of walking?" Yuuji realized while waiting.
Which was only for a few seconds.
"Yuuji!" Lala said, opening the door forcefully and jumping into his arms, making Yuuji catch her so she would not fall again.
"Lala. Do you always greet people like this?"
"Of course it is only for Yuuji" Lala replied with a proud smile that made Yuuji look away slightly in embarrassment.
"Alright, you win this round. I wanted to ask if you want to go to the high school together?"
"Round?" Lala wondered at first as Yuuji put her down, but upon hearing the rest she completely ignored it. "Of course! Let's go! Definitely!"
...
"Oh! You came together today. It seems your relationship is progressing quickly" Risa said as she saw them arrive together.
"Are they not already at the finish line, but someone is afraid to cross it for some reason?" Mio asked as Yuuji and Lala sat in their seats.
Yuuji simply ignored her, waving his hand dismissively, which caused both of them to giggle.
"By the way, where is..." Haruna, sitting nearby, noticed Rito's absence and was about to ask, but he arrived right behind.
However, Haruna's happy expression changed when she saw his exhausted and worn-out face.
"Rito, what happened to you?" Haruna asked as she went to his side.
Rito's state was such that he did not even blush at Haruna's sudden closeness.
"I was... the third wheel" Rito said, confusing everyone.
"Third wheel?" Haruna asked.
"Yes, I walked behind them watching their flirting the whole time, it was super annoying and made me want to hit them"
"You deserve it, bastard" a resentful voice sounded.
"What?" Rito, now recovered, turned toward Saruyama, who was sitting nearby.
In reality, all the named characters were distributed around the classroom in a way that they were close enough to talk to each other, but far enough not to all be sitting together.
"Nothing," Saruyama said, hiding his envy toward Rito while Haruna kept looking at him with a worried expression.
"Do not worry, everyone! I have something to help you relax" ignoring Saruyama, Run appeared in the classroom, hitting the desk to get everyone's attention before pulling out several aqua-colored tickets with the same design.
"Ta-da! These are tickets to the water park this weekend. One for each of you"
"Awesome!" Saruyama shouted excitedly, already imagining the girls in bikinis.
But his excitement did not last long.
"And who are you?" Run asked, looking at him with disdain.
"What?! I am Saruyama Kenichi, Rito's best friend" Saruyama declared, offended.
Run ignored him and instead looked at Rito, seeking confirmation.
Rito looked at Saruyama, who was extremely excited, with heart-shaped eyes and breathing heavily, before answering.
"Do not worry, I do not know him" Rito shrugged.
"Bastard!"
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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)