When Nemesis finished telling me her story, the first thing I thought was: Is that her idea of a fun date? But in the end I didn't say anything because while she was telling me the story I could sense the excitement in her tone. From what I could see at first glance, it seemed this date genuinely excited her, so I chose to stay quiet and simply ask for the details of the mission.
Soon we arrived at her spaceship, boarded it, and set course for the planet Kamba, where our date… or rather, our special date, would take place.
Nemesis's ship was, in a word, small. Unlike Zastin's, which had several rooms, this one only had one room and a bathroom, both very well equipped, but that was it. Just one room and a bathroom — a very small ship compared to Zastin's.
"Alright, first of all, let me tell you that we'll be sharing a room, but that's more of a gift than an inconvenience," Nemesis said.
"Ahem, yes, you could say that, but… why do you have such a small ship? I mean, it's not like you lack money," I asked curiously.
In reality, she was rich. I found that out not long after she started living with us. Apparently, the numerous jobs she did for Gid had been quite profitable because he wasn't stingy when paying Nemesis for her services.
To be honest, almost all my girls were rich. Lala, Nana, and Momo got all the money they wanted from their father, without any limit. Yami earned a lot of money when she worked as an assassin and since she never spent much, she had saved an enormous sum — so much that she could live her entire life with all kinds of luxuries and spend as much as she wanted without even using 1% of her fortune (talking about a human lifespan, of course — I don't actually know hers).
Dita was very well rewarded by the king for serving as provisional governor in place of Murlus V and had more money than she could spend. Run was the daughter of a very influential noble throughout the galaxy, so money was the least of her worries. Kari, unlike the Kari from the Digimon anime, came from a wealthy family. Both parents worked in very well-paid jobs and while they weren't millionaires, they were quite rich. Mikado had a lot of money saved from all the patients she had treated over the years, money she had set aside for emergencies, and it seemed she had been right on the mark.
Therefore, the only two girls in my harem who weren't rich were Mikan and Haruna. Both families were middle-class and while they lived comfortably, they weren't rich like the others.
"Money isn't a problem. In fact, I could buy whatever ship I wanted, but… that never interested me. Before staying with you and the others on Earth, my only purpose was to wander the galaxy looking for something that excited me. Being alone with no one to accompany me, I didn't see the need to buy a big ship. This small one is enough to satisfy all my needs without any problems," Nemesis explained.
"And food? I didn't see a kitchen or even anything to eat," I asked.
I didn't see any food in the ship, which is why I asked that question. I understand that when traveling alone a ship like Zastin's is unnecessary, but doesn't she at least need a kitchen to cook or even provisions? Why don't I see any of that here?
"Actually, I don't need to eat, so there's nothing in the ship," Nemesis said.
"Huh? You don't need to eat?" I asked, surprised.
"Exactly," Nemesis nodded.
"Then why do you eat if you don't need to?" I asked curiously.
In reality, I didn't know this aspect of Nemesis. In the anime and manga, something like this was never mentioned.
"For pleasure. I like eating, but I don't need it. The same with breathing. The truth is I don't need to breathe either. I breathe for pleasure, not out of necessity," Nemesis said.
I was a bit surprised. Breathe for pleasure? I understand eating for pleasure, but breathing for pleasure? Damn, what race does Nemesis belong to? She's strong with abilities beyond imagination. What race in the To Love-Ru universe is so powerful? I mean, this is the first time I've heard of a race in this universe that could perfectly fit into the Ben 10 universe. Simply surprising.
"… Anyway, let's leave that topic for another time and tell me the details of the mission," I said.
Better to leave that topic for a more appropriate moment. For now, I'll focus on the date.
"We'll go with the stealthiest option. We'll enter without being seen and beat up everyone. The king wants them all alive… but you can leave them half-dead if you want, as long as they're breathing, the king won't complain. Although honestly I'd prefer to kill them… this time he wants to bring them to justice. Kings' things, I suppose," Nemesis said.
Enter stealthily and beat up everyone? What kind of plan is this?
"Um… since that's your plan, wouldn't it be better to just go in by force and be done with it? It's easier and we wouldn't have to bother being stealthy," I suggested.
"I prefer infiltration. Besides, if we make too much noise they'll notice our presence and try to stop us with weapons or something, and while they don't affect me… I don't want you to get hurt," Nemesis said.
The truth is she liked stealth, which is why she did it, but now that Akira was her man, it was natural to worry about him, protect him, and look out for his interests.
"Nemesis… thank you," I said sincerely.
She might not show it and our relationship might have started abruptly because of a simple bet, but I'm sure that during the time she's been living with us, we've managed to open her heart a little and that she's even started to like it.
"There's no need to thank me. You're my man and I'm your woman. Besides, we're family and Lala told me that family doesn't need to thank each other," Nemesis said sincerely.
At first she didn't understand it. She didn't understand why all the girls treated each other so well. During her travels, Nemesis had seen numerous people, nobles or not, with harems, and not many of them were cordial, much less treated each other as well as Akira's harem. In most cases, at best the women tolerated each other and at worst they could even kill each other. That's why it seemed strange to her that Akira's harem was so cordial and treated each other like sisters. But as time passed she began to understand it, to understand why the harem was so peaceful and why the girls treated each other like real sisters. It was something that couldn't be expressed with words because to understand it, you had to live it from the inside. Only then could you understand why.
Still, she didn't hesitate to ask Lala about family because as someone who had never had one, she didn't exactly know how she was supposed to feel. No, although she understood the meaning of family, she didn't understand the concept itself — what it truly meant to be a family — at least not until Lala explained it to her. Family isn't family just because they share the same blood. Family is a concept beyond that. In this case, the family was formed thanks to one person: Akira. They all loved Akira so much that they left their jealousy behind and at some point began to feel as close as if they were real sisters. To be honest, there's no exact explanation for how they started treating each other like sisters. It just happened. Maybe their love for Akira influenced it or maybe not — that's something completely uncertain.
Naturally Nemesis didn't understand anything Lala told her, but some of those words began to resonate in her mind as the days passed and before she realized it, she had become part of this big family — a united family without any scheming, a completely peaceful harem where the girls treated each other like family, not like enemies. And although her love for Akira was still in its early stages, she couldn't deny that thanks to him she now had a family that cared about her and her well-being, and that she was his woman and felt proud to be one.
Nemesis had seen many kinds of men throughout her travels, but very few could match Akira in terms of personality. While he wasn't the most handsome, he was attractive, honest, always treated everyone with kindness and respect, and was also strong — very strong — with a lot of potential for growth. He always had a smile on his face, spoiling them and protecting them from any harm, but he also had a serious side, a dark side, a side that only emerged from his desire to protect his loved ones — a side that Nemesis loved.
"Nemesis…" I said with a smile.
Those words made me want to kiss her, so that's what I did, without warning.
At first Nemesis was surprised, but she soon returned the kiss. It wasn't a very long or lustful kiss, but it contained all the feelings they had for each other.
"Ahem, let's leave the sentimentality for later and focus on the mission details," Nemesis said.
Surprisingly, Nemesis was somewhat embarrassed and had even blushed — something completely unprecedented, something that had never happened until this very moment! If anyone had seen the famous Nemesis acting so shyly and blushing after kissing a man… they would simply faint from shock.
It should be said that the entire galaxy had heard of Nemesis… but no one had heard anything good about her. Everything they had heard made people tremble just by mentioning her name.
"Alright," I nodded.
I didn't insist because just seeing her act shyly and even blush a moment ago… was enough for me. In fact, seeing her like that surprised me because I never thought she could act shy, much less blush. Luckily I managed to contain my surprise.
"Fine, we'll proceed as follows…" Nemesis began.
The plan was, in theory, quite simple. According to Nemesis, we wouldn't enter the planet with the spaceship. Instead, we would park on one of its moons and go to the planet ourselves. From there, we would search for the base using the coordinates that, somehow, Gid had obtained and infiltrate the base. The next step was simple: find the boss and capture him, and if the others offered any resistance, knock them all out.
On paper, this plan seemed orchestrated by a 5-year-old child.
"Why should we park on the moon and continue on our own?" I asked, not understanding.
It's not that I don't have aliens capable of being in space without any protection, but… why should we park far from the planet?
"Those pirates aren't exactly stupid. Their boss, Larkos, didn't make a name for himself in the galaxy by being a brute who robs anyone without a plan. Larkos is meticulous with everything he does and is also extremely slippery. Based on that, it's almost certain that there are satellites surrounding the planet that will alert him if anyone approaches. That's why it's better to go without a spaceship — to avoid unnecessary commotion," Nemesis explained.
Apparently that pirate, Larkos, was a famous and very elusive space pirate wanted by the space police. Unfortunately for the police, Larkos wasn't an ordinary space pirate — he was different. Most space pirates didn't stop to devise plans or consider the consequences of robbing certain people, but Larkos was different. He always thought things through before doing them, gathered information before attacking any ship, base, or planet, and always had backup plans to escape if things went wrong. That's why the police hadn't managed to catch him until now. However, it seems his constant robberies and escapes had angered Gid, who had decided to catch him. That's why he asked Nemesis… or at least that's what Nemesis told me.