After entering the school building, just before Yuuji stepped into his classroom, he felt a vibration in his pocket that made him stop.
He took out the D-Dial and answered the call quickly, upon seeing the sender, his curiosity only increased.
"Ruri, did something happen?"
[Yes, young master. I forgot to tell you earlier, but I would like to return Mona to you]
"Mona? Why? I thought she would be useful at the company" Yuuji asked, confused.
[She is. However, she is overqualified. I can handle everything she does at the company easily, while the things she can do that I cannot are not necessary, so it ends up being a waste of her abilities. Rather than making her focus on a single task like now, I recommend you keep her as a personal assistant, since her adaptability and wide range of functions are more suited for that than dedicating herself to something as simple as managing a company]
'I'm sure you're the only one who thinks something like that is simple' Yuuji complained in his mind.
But out loud, he agreed, if Ruri did not consider Mona necessary at the company, then there was no need to force it.
After acknowledging the matter, Yuuji said goodbye and quickly hung up.
"So, Mona, are you here already?"
As soon as he spoke, a small chibi figure shaped like a petite girl with two short twin tails materialized on the D-Dial screen.
[Here I am, master. Ready to serve]
"Ready to serve, huh?" Yuuji repeated.
"Well, in stories, when they don't end up rebelling and trying to destroy the world, AIs usually make life much easier" he muttered, somewhat hopeful about making his life easier.
"So, Mona, your main task from now on is divided into two parts.
Number one: Assist me in avoiding problems.
Number two: Assist me in solving the problems I couldn't avoid in the most efficient way possible"
[Understood, master. Following your instructions, I strongly recommend putting away the D-Dial immediately]
"?"
Although confused, Yuuji quickly obeyed, curious about how it would help him.
The very next second after doing so, the door burst open and an excited girl jumped toward him.
"Yuuji! Come in, what are you doing standing here for so long?" Lala asked, wrapping her arms around him and forcing Yuuji to respond the same way so she would not fall.
Before answering, Yuuji looked inside the classroom, where he saw Yui staring at him with a suspicious look.
'I see' Yuuji immediately realized that he had avoided punishment from the disciplinary committee for using his phone at school.
As for why the disciplinary committee would be in charge of that, do not ask, Yui was basically the rules in Sainan, she could enforce any rule regardless of whether it had anything to do with her authority.
"Yuuji?" Lala asked when she did not receive an answer.
"It's nothing, honestly, I ran into someone on the way to school that made me late."
As he spoke, Yuuji let go of Lala and entered the classroom.
As always, the advantages of money and good grades made your attitude not really matter. Aside from an annoyed look from Yui, he received no reprimand for arriving literally at lunchtime.
Sitting at their usual table made of multiple desks, he explained why he was late.
Of course, his explanation boiled down to "I ran into Gid Lucione Deviluke" and did not mention anything about his original plan to skip.
"With my father?!"
Of course, for Lala, that alone was enough to make her react dramatically.
"Did he hurt you? What happened? What was he doing here?"
"I'm fine, he didn't hurt me. As for what he was doing here, well, I'm not sure" Yuuji answered honestly. "To be honest, I punched him and then he left without saying much."
"You punched your father in law?" Risa asked in disbelief.
"Do you think I can beat her father?" Yuuji mocked her words, which sounded like he had actually hurt Gid.
"Is he that strong?"
"Of course! Don't underestimate the king of the galaxy!" Lala said proudly.
"W-wait, Lala!" At the sudden mention of that, Rito tried to stop her from speaking, but he was too late, everyone had already heard her.
"What's wrong?" Lala asked, not understanding what she had done wrong and already thinking about continuing to talk about her father, but Haruna spoke before she could.
"This...with king of the galaxy, do you mean something like an alien?"
"Lala, could you be...?"
Seeing that Lala only looked at them innocently without even understanding what could be wrong, and that Rito did not seem to want to say anything, everyone's gaze shifted toward Yuuji.
"What? Don't tell me you're only noticing now?" Yuuji said, almost mocking them. With the number of situations that had happened so far, if they had not noticed, they could only be described as fools.
Luckily, that was not the case.
"Well, the tail was kind of suspicious"
"Yeah, and all those weird inventions"
"The monster that kidnapped me in the gym said some strange things" Haruna said as she realized.
"I see, so Lala is an alien princess" Risa sighed as if that explained many things.
Although in reality, most of what had happened so far came more from her own inventions created by her intelligence than from alien problems.
"Alien princess, that's quite a title" Mio muttered beside her.
"So if Yuuji marries Lala, would he become the next king of the galaxy? Should we start flattering him?" Risa joked.
Rito looked at the group, which not only was not very surprised by Lala's identity, but had even immediately started making jokes about it.
In the end, the only one surprised was him.
Yuuji watched him and laughed a little in his mind, somehow, in this anime world, the most normal one and the one who fit the least was the protagonist himself.
"Do you think flattering me would work?" Yuuji joked, playing along.
"Future king of the galaxy, please, take my bento to satisfy your hunger" Lala continued, handing him a bento with both hands respectfully.
"You're the princess, why would you need to flatter me?" Yuuji asked with a smile, but he took the bento anyway.
"So you're already dating" Haruna murmured as she watched them.
"Not really" Yuuji answered naturally, and Lala nodded in agreement.
"""What?!"""
But to Yuuji's surprise, somehow this seemed to shock the group more than Lala's identity as an intergalactic princess.
"Impossible!" Risa said in disbelief, standing up.
"You make him a bento like it's normal, and since he didn't bring his own I assume he was already expecting it. And you literally just joked with each other about something that would only happen if you got married!"
"Yuuji, I hope you're not playing with Lala" Yui added, staring directly into Yuuji's eyes with a hint of threat.
"No, Yuuji isn't like that!" Lala defended him before he even had the chance to speak.
"Then?" Despite Lala's defense, Yui did not back down, whether due to her inherent sense of responsibility or her friendship with Lala.
"Dating someone comes with both good things and bad things, along with the advantages come new responsibilities" Yuuji interrupted. "So if I date someone, I want to take it completely seriously and take responsibility for all those new things. That's why I want to think about it first, to be sure I'm willing to give it my all for that person.
At least, that's how I see it."
After Yuuji's words, the table fell silent for a few seconds.
Finally, it was Risa who broke the silence.
"Yuuji..." Risa murmured in a serious voice for once, though it only lasted a second before she returned to her usual attitude. "What nonsense are you talking about?" she complained as if she had just heard the biggest stupidity in the world.
"First of all, relationships are reciprocal, it's not about you taking care of all their problems, it's about supporting each other. No, but even more importantly, don't you already take care of most of Lala's problems anyway? That's a terrible excuse!"
Just when Yuuji was sure she would keep complaining, she suddenly stopped and her eyes widened in surprise.
She looked at Yuuji and fell silent, only to then cover her mouth and laugh "subtly".
"I see, I see"
"Yuuji, is she okay?" Lala whispered into Yuuji's ear when she saw Risa's strange state.
"No, I think she might have mental issues. Let's take her to the hospital" Yuuji whispered back, but loud enough for Risa to hear.
"Hey, I heard that!" she complained, but then remembered something and let it go, changing to another topic of interest. "Speaking of that, they changed the principal, I heard he was arrested. Did you do that?"
"He was a complete pervert, he deserved it" Yuuji said without confirming anything but being quite obvious.
Of course, Yuuji did not have him arrested, he simply had him investigated, the fact that he was arrested meant they found something that warranted it.
Remembering the original anime, he should at least have several charges of harassment and illegal files, enough for several years in prison.
"I forgot, my father!" Lala suddenly said, completely ignoring the previous change of topic. "What happened with that? Did my father threaten you?"
"No. Like I said, I punched him and then he left"
"My father? Are you sure? Didn't he say anything? Something like 'you're not worthy of my daughter' or 'if you don't pass my test you'll never inherit my throne'?" Lala asked, imitating her father's deep tone.
"No" Yuuji shrugged, just as confused as Lala "although he did ask me what I think about you"
"Ah... and... what did you answer?" The concern on Lala's face disappeared, turning into a blush as she asked shyly.
Yuuji looked into her eyes seriously before smiling.
"Who knows"
"W-what? Tell me"
"I won't tell you"
"Don't be like that!"
"Incredible" on the other hand, Yui, serious and quiet as always, watched the exchange without knowing what to think.
"Changing topics without any sense without finishing the previous one, and somehow everything ends in romance. Is this what they call youth?" she thought, always considering herself more mature than the rest.
She turned her gaze, Risa was watching the exchange with amusement, while Mio watched it as if it were a show from her favorite manga.
Finally, she ignored them and decided to talk with Haruna. But what did she find there?
"R-Rito, do you want to try my bento?"
"Huh? Really? Of course!"
Before he could take anything, Haruna firmly grabbed a piece of octopus from her lunch, squeezing it as if she had gathered all her courage, and brought it to Rito's mouth almost by force.
Rito, far from feeling uncomfortable from the sudden action, blushed so much that his face turned red and steam came out from the top of his head, something that also happened to Haruna.
'Forget it' Yui thought, deciding not to interrupt them. 'I'll just review the committee rules in my mind until lunch break ends'
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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)