Chapter 7: Lala: Who Are You?
....
Having been grabbed somewhere she hadn't expected to be grabbed, by someone she'd just met, Lala's response was to tilt her head with the unfocused expression of someone whose brain was still catching up to recent events. No embarrassment. No outrage. Just the mild, curious blankness of a very intelligent person temporarily operating below full processing capacity.
The bathroom steam had put a faint pink in her skin. Kihara had already withdrawn his hand. He pulled a towel from the rack and wrapped it around her. "Let's go somewhere else and talk."
"Okay~!"
He swung one leg over the side of the bathtub.
Something soft closed around him.
"Oh wow! You even prepared a handle for me! How considerate~!"
"..." A brief pause. Then, with the equanimity of a man who had made certain peace with his circumstances: "As long as you're comfortable."
Out of the bathroom, he reached into his dimensional pouch and produced a dress and appropriate undergarments.
"Get dressed first."
"Okay!"
She didn't register his ability to produce clothing from nowhere as anything worth commenting on. She unwrapped the towel and began dressing in front of him with the complete ease of someone for whom this was not a complicated situation at all.
In the shadow space, Shinobu watched.
[I'm aware this is simply her personality. And yet I find myself wondering if "too pure" is a category that applies here.]
Three minutes later, both of them were sitting in the living room, clothed, conducting introductions.
"I'm Lala! Lala Satalin Deviluke!"
"Kihara."
"Thank you for the clothes! My transformation robot Peke got separated from me in the transmission — I had no idea what I was going to do!"
She was already looking around the room with the eager attention of someone cataloguing a new environment, head moving from detail to detail. The reason for her arrival was straightforward enough: her father's endless arranged marriage schedule had finally exceeded her tolerance, and her own invention — the Jumping Warp-kun — had served as her escape route. She'd ended up here by accident, which was, she was already deciding, a pretty good accident.
A white, round, slightly tubby-looking robot flew in through the window and spoke in a very recognizable accent.
"Lady Lala, thank goodness you're safe!"
"Peke!" She gathered the robot in a hug.
"Normal clothes, please!"
"Understood!"
What followed was a magical girl transformation sequence. Specifically: the undressing-first variant, no protective light effects included.
Kihara filed the visual in the appropriate mental location and then, once she was dressed, returned to the conversation.
"Lala-san. Do you remember what I said in the bathroom? About the proposal?"
"What?! Proposal?!"
Peke's shriek was loud enough that it apparently functioned as a locator beacon, because within moments the front door was kicked open and three figures came through it — a tall warrior in skull-motif armor flanked by two large black-suited individuals.
"Lady Lala, please stop this. Arranged marriages are a standard part of royal life—"
The easygoing, cheerful Lala became a very small, very displeased squirrel in
approximately one second. "Zastin! If that's how it is, how come Momo and Nana haven't been set up with anyone?!"
"Those two Princesses haven't yet reached the appropriate age for—"
Kihara stepped in front of Lala and addressed the three intruders. "What century do you think you're in? Freedom to choose your own partner is a fundamental right. Also—" he looked at the damage to his door frame— "you broke my door. You owe me compensation."
Zastin, for all that he was generally accommodating toward Lala to the point of spinelessness, was still the captain of the Deviluke royal guard. His eyes sharpened as he processed the proximity of this unidentified male to the First Princess.
"Boy. I strongly suggest you stay out of this and move away from Lady Lala."
"No."
The system notification arrived quietly.
[High-civilization extraterrestrial presence detected. Restrictions on technology-based abilities: lifted.]
Kihara had a specific impression he wanted to make.
He reached for the Faiz Driver and belt.
"Standing By."
"HENSHIN."
"Complete."
The scarlet photon blood that hadn't moved in quite some time began its familiar work — flowing outward and solidifying, the black armor assembling itself around him in segments until the transformation was complete.
Behind him, Lala's eyes — the deep green of emeralds — lit up with a brightness that hadn't been there before.
"...That is so cool."
Zastin raised a battle-scanner to his eye. Watched the readout. His expression traveled through several stages.
"100,000?? — no, it's still rising??"
His hand moved to his nanolight blade. He settled into a combat stance.
Then Lala jumped onto Kihara's back and declared, with the settled finality of someone announcing a logistical decision: "Zastin! Go back and tell Father — Kihara is my fiancé!"
"Lady Lala, this is not something to be taken lightly—"
"I'm completely serious. Kihara performed the Deviluke royal proposal ceremony just now. Even Father can't ignore the rules, can he?"
"The proposal ceremony. Just now."
Zastin's expression went through several more stages, none of them comfortable. He was deeply concerned that someone of unknown origin had somehow manipulated a very genuine and very trusting princess. On the other hand, the combat readout was still climbing, and the rules were the rules.
"I will report this to King Deviluke.
Withdrawing."
"Sir!"
On their way out, all three of them repaired the door they'd broken.
Entirely. Left it better than they'd found it.
[Surprisingly courteous for a group of space enforcers. So — what's the plan?]
[Improvise. And work on Lala's affection.]
He redirected his attention to Lala, who was tapping on the Faiz armor with her knuckle, exploring the surface texture with the curiosity of an engineer encountering unfamiliar materials.
"You're interested in how the armor works?"
"Yes!! It kind of reminds me of Peke's transformation ability!"
Peke has zero combat function, he thought. The comparison is extremely generous.
He released the transformation at Lala's disappointed look. "You said I was your fiancé just now. That wasn't just an excuse to get rid of the guards?"
"Of course not! I really liked that you stood up for me. And I didn't expect to find an alien who could do a cool transformation like that! My instincts are telling me we're a good match!"
"Then I look forward to getting to know you, Lala."
"Mm!"
She ignored the extended hand and went straight to a hug.
That evening he sorted out a bedroom for her, acquired some everyday clothes in appropriate sizes, made a round trip to Gensokyo to get an enrollment form from Yukari, and successfully arranged for Lala to transfer into his class.
He also gave her a basic overview of Earth customs and common knowledge, covering the most important points, then went to bed.
The next morning.
Yanami Anna arrived at her usual time with her usual routine, key already in hand — and stopped.
Coming out the front door, arm through Kihara's with the easy intimacy of someone entirely at home in that position, was a girl.
The face of an angel. Proportions that seemed to have been constructed according to specifications. The kind of appearance that triggered every alarm in the nervous system simultaneously.
"Kihara! Who is she?!"
Lala looked at her with genuine warmth and answered with complete sincerity.
"I'm Kihara's fiancée~ Nice to meet you! Who are you?"
The polite question arrived in Yanami Anna's ears with roughly the same effect as a fire alarm in a quiet library.
The color left her face in stages.
....
Thank you for reading.