"Yuuji"
While Yuuji was still thinking about all that, Lala softly called out to him with a whisper in his ear.
The distracted Yuuji didn't notice it, so the sudden sensation of her warm breath on his ear startled him, making him raise his hand to his ear and turn around in surprise.
"Jijiji" Lala laughed playfully with a hand over her mouth, which made Yuuji think he should tell her to stop spending so much time with Risa or all her bad habits would rub off on her.
"What is it?" he asked after coming back to his senses.
"The ice has melted, let's go" Lala replied, pulling him again in the same direction as before.
This time, as if afraid it might happen again, she carefully stepped into the pool, onsen.
Yuuji followed her and, after getting in, simply sat down, leaning back against the rocks at the edge.
Extremely comfortable, he closed his eyes for a moment while letting his head fall back, at that moment he thought that if this were a real onsen with a view of the stars, it would be incredible.
He stayed like that for a few seconds, separating his mind from everything else around him, until he felt something.
"Soft" he murmured unconsciously as he felt a soft body leaning against him right in front.
"Am I soft?" Lala asked with a smile, lifting her head to look at Yuuji.
Yuuji came back to his senses, noticing that Lala was sitting with her back to him right in front of him, she had slipped into the space between his slightly open legs, pushing them a bit wider as she did so, and was leaning against his chest.
Because she was shorter than him, this didn't cause any discomfort to Yuuji, on the contrary, the feeling of her skin and Lala's presence itself felt quite comfortable.
"Very soft" Yuuji replied with a smile, "it even makes me want to hug you."
"Well, what can you do, hehe." After smiling, satisfied and proud of Yuuji's answer, Lala took his arms and placed them under hers, putting him in a position to hug her.
"I'll let you hug me for a while."
"Oh, looks like today noble Lala and spoiled Lala are in full force" Yuuji joked.
"They're simply parts of me you didn't know before."
"And why are they showing now?"
"I want Yuuji to know everything about me" Lala said with a smile that left Yuuji silent.
After a while, Lala spoke again.
"Yuuji, do you think Run will be okay?" she asked a bit nervously.
"Yes, I don't know her very well, but she doesn't seem like the kind of person who gives up after a simple setback, right?"
"Right" Lala nodded. "What do you think will happen?"
"Well, Rito will probably go look for Run and apologize" Yuuji replied.
"But isn't it Yuuji's fault?"
"I know, but that's the kind of person Rito is" Yuuji shrugged, or tried to, stopping when he realized that raising his shoulders also slightly raised his arms, touching certain parts of Lala's body.
"That's true" Lala agreed without noticing Yuuji's slight discomfort, "I hope they'll be okay."
"You care about them that much?"
"They're my friends, I hope they're okay and get along," Lala explained.
"You're a very kind person, you know that?"
"Am I?"
"You are" Yuuji nodded.
"Hehe, well if Yuuji says so."
The conversation fell silent again, until Yuuji remembered something after a while.
"By the way, Lala, I was wondering something."
"Yes?"
"Earlier, when Run turned the water and the floor into ice, you gave her good advice, but I was wondering, how do you know the item hasn't been tested?"
"I... guessed?" Lala said, looking away.
"You guessed?"
"Y-yes?... or maybe I gave it to her?" she said in the end, unsure.
"Phew. I thought so" Yuuji sighed. "And why did you give her something like that?"
"Well... I don't remember" Lala replied innocently.
"You don't remember?"
"I mean, I don't really remember when I gave it to her, but I know it's mine, I recognize my inventions. I've known Run since we were little and we've had many adventures, I don't remember all the things I've given her" Lala explained.
'Right, Lala is a galactic princess, she has visited thousands of planets, maybe even more' Yuuji recalled.
"Have you had many adventures across the galaxy?"
"That's right, you can't imagine how many planets and things I've seen. Did you know there's a planet made entirely of things that are edible on Earth? And there's a planet where edible things are the exact opposite of Earth. There's also one made entirely of the same material, it's a valuable material in the galaxy, so my father has to work hard to protect it. There are also planets with magic, the princess of Magali, for example, once challenged me to a duel of magic versus science, can you guess who won?"
"You won."
"Of course I did" Lala nodded proudly.
"Tell me more, about your adventures on other planets."
"Of course, let's see, I know! When I was seven years old, my father took me and my sisters to planet Shuba where..."
Yuuji simply leaned back and listened to Lala talk about the different adventures she had experienced for a while.
...
"Ah! I'm sorry, did I bore you?" more than an hour and a half later, Lala stopped and asked nervously when she realized she hadn't stopped talking the whole time.
"It's fine, it's fun listening to you" Yuuji said truthfully. "But with all the places you've been, you must know a lot of people I don't know, right?"
Hearing this, Lala unconsciously lowered her eyelids.
"No... not really."
"I'm sorry for making you remember something sad" Yuuji apologized as he realized.
"I-it's fine. Now I have many friends I love and who love me, so it doesn't matter anymore. I mean, I was really sad in the past, but now I really like my current life. I think that if I hadn't gone through all that, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today, so I'm really grateful, so I... sorry, I'll stop talking" Lala said as she realized she was talking too much again.
"Haha."
"Don't laugh at me" Lala complained when she heard him laugh.
"Haha, I'm not laughing at you" Yuuji said. "It's just really nice hearing you talk so happily. I really... like your personality."
"Eh? A-ahm... thanks" Lala said, not knowing what else to say.
"By the way, since we're talking about that, with your personality, why are you here?" Yuuji asked after thinking for a while.
"Here?" Lala asked, confused.
"With dozens of games and slides, why are you in the only place where you have to stay calm?" Yuuji explained.
"Well... don't you like being here?"
"I do, but..."
"Then that's enough" Lala interrupted. "As long as Yuuji likes being here, I do too."
"You don't have to force yourself to do things you don't want, you know?" Yuuji said, but Lala shook her head.
"I'm not forcing myself, Yuuji always does things I want and helps me with my... adventures" Lala said, a bit embarrassed about how to define the disasters caused by her inventions. "So I wanted to do things that Yuuji likes."
"It's fine, I like spending time with you and the crazy things you cause" Yuuji said. "Trust me, if I don't like something, I don't do it."
"Okay, I also like being here, being calm, immersed in hot water, just talking with Yuuji without doing anything else, it's fun. Actually, as long as I'm with Yuuji, I'll be happy."
Yuuji stayed silent for a second.
"Yuuji, you know I like you, right?" Lala asked when she noticed his silence.
"Yes" Yuuji nodded.
"What about...?" Lala hesitated.
"I like you too" Yuuji nodded again.
"Then we can..."
"I'm sorry" Yuuji interrupted the excited Lala, apologizing.
Lala lowered her head again, a bit sad, but raised it almost immediately, determined.
"It's okay, I'll wait for you!" she declared firmly.
"...thank you."
"Will you tell me why?"
"I... can't, I'm sorry. But I'll make sure to resolve it quickly and give you the answer you deserve. I'm sorry. But if you end up falling in love with someone else, I won't blam..."
"I won't" Lala interrupted immediately.
"I know. I just want you to know that if it were to hap..."
"I won't!" Lala repeated, not letting him finish. "Yuuji is the person I love."
"Alright" Yuuji finally gave in.
After that, both fell silent. Lala snuggled closer to Yuuji, while he hugged her tighter.
They stayed like that for a while, in complete silence, both with their eyes closed, until Yuuji felt someone sit next to him.
"Yami?" he asked, recognizing who it was.
"Yuuji, am I interrupting your couple time?" Yami asked in a tone Yuuji couldn't tell if it was serious or joking.
"No" Yuuji said finally, deciding to take it seriously. "What are you doing here?"
"Mikan took me to all the pools in the place, I'm tired.
Mikan told me this is the best place to rest at the end, right?" she asked, turning her gaze back, where Yuuji noticed Mikan hiding behind them.
"Ah, yes" Mikan said, suddenly nervous before looking at Yuuji apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt, I didn't know you were here."
"It's fine," Yuuji shrugged, same mistake as before, raising his arms only made him touch that same soft feeling again.
"Mnnnh!" Lala let out a soft sound that made Mikan and Yami pause for a moment, they scrutinized Lala and Yuuji briefly, but finding nothing suspicious, they assumed it was just a mistake and entered.
When Yuuji was about to close his eyes to keep resting, the water stirred again as more people entered.
"Yuuji, so you came earlier" Rito said when he saw him there, and with him were all the others.
Yuuji noticed how Run was now on the other side of Rito, not where Haruna was, and smiled inwardly.
'So we're taking that route.'
"'Came earlier'?" Risa's teasing voice sounded as the last three entered the pool, onsen. "He's been here the whole time."
"The whole time?!" Rito repeated in surprise.
"Are you two okay?" Yui asked, since they had been in the steam and heat for hours. While several people had been changing during that time, only the two of them had stayed there the entire time.
"It's fine, neither of us are normal people" Yuuji reassured her.
"I see. As long as you're okay."
"Even so, if you were just going to stay like that all day, you should have gone to an onsen, you would have had a better view" Mio said.
"That's true" Risa nodded, completely agreeing with her friend as always.
"Lala, do you want to go to an onsen next time?" Yuuji asked, also agreeing, he had even thought the same thing earlier.
Lala, who had been keeping her eyes closed enjoying her position until now, opened them, lifted her head, and looked Yuuji in the eyes as she answered.
"As long as Yuuji is there, I'll go anywhere"
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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)