After two days of fun on the island, life went back to "normal."
Those who had to go to school went to school, those who had to work went to work.
Shichen wasn't in a hurry to go looking for Nemesis's real body. If he wanted to, he could find her anytime. Even if she was using Kurosaki Mea's body, the two of them had already "communicated" in a way that mingled them together — that made things different.
Shichen was very lenient with his own women, so he was fine with letting her roam out there for now.
He, on the other hand, was starting to think about going back.
This world should be just about out of divinity shards. He had to hurry and collect fifty shards of godhood and expose "her" identity.
Honestly, he already had a guess.
Because as he collected more shards, "her" voice had grown more and more human — more emotion, more color.
Just from her voice, he could basically tell who she was. It was way too obvious.
Her existence made sense. But why she was the one guiding him — that was what he didn't understand.
All he could do was hurry up and reach fifty shards, expose who she was, and force her to come clean.
"Brother-in-law~"
A voice suddenly cut across Shichen's thoughts.
"Mea, what are you doing here? Don't you have P.E. this period?" Shichen looked toward the door at the red-haired girl with the scorpion braid bouncing in.
"Hehe~ Class is so boring. I wanted to come play with brother-in-law~" Kurosaki Mea shut the door and skipped over, throwing herself into his arms.
Shichen caught her, shifted her a bit, and sat her on his lap facing away from him.
"There's nothing fun in here. Want to play a game?"
The hidden room had plenty of games; he'd prepared them in case he ever got bored — he just hadn't actually played them yet.
Lala's new full-dive RPG was already finished, too. The system was more refined, the mechanics more complete. Shichen was planning to test it when he got back — but he'd wait until everyone could play together.
The more people, the better.
And playing together would also help everyone get familiar with each other more quickly.
"What's so fun about games." Mea twisted in his lap, sounding dismissive.
"You don't like games? I see you playing with Nana and the others all the time."
"That's just to keep Nana company."
"If you say that to her face, she's going to get her feelings hurt, you know."
"It's fine. I'm only saying it to brother-in-law~" Mea turned and gave him a small smile.
"So that means you listen to brother-in-law, hmm?"
"Mm, I'll listen to brother-in-law!" Mea nodded.
"In that case… go back to class."
"Eh? But I just got here..." Mea puffed her cheeks unhappily.
"Be good. You wanted to go to school, so be a good student." As encouragement, Shichen leaned down and kissed her.
"Mmm~ That's not enough!" Mea's eyes sparkled as she stared at him.
"...Don't be too greedy."
"Nooo, I want more~"
Mea whined, spun around to face him, looped her arms around his neck, then lifted herself and pressed her lips to his.
Her kiss was hot, eager; she even took the initiative to slip her tongue in and tangle with his.
Shichen could only cooperate, one arm around her waist, the other automatically searching for its usual "target," fingers starting to move.
Old habits died hard.
Under the double stimulation of being held and having her heartbeat "checked," Mea soon couldn't catch her breath and broke the kiss on her own.
"Haa— brother-in-law~" Mea panted, face flushed pink, eyes practically glowing.
This girl was like a little succubus.
"Now are you satisfied?" Shichen asked, fingers still moving.
"Not yet..." Mea licked her lips with a sultry little smile, clearly wanting more.
"You really... no skill yet such a big appetite."
"?" Mea tilted her head, not understanding.
"Go on, what else do you want?"
"I... feel a little thirsty~" Mea glanced down meaningfully and lowered her voice.
"...How did you get addicted to that?" Shichen's mouth twitched.
"Then it's brother-in-law's fault~"
Still teasing, Mea slipped off his lap and leaned across his legs.
After some rustling, Shichen let out a long sigh, closed his eyes, and absently patted her head.
One entire period passed. The break bell rang, then the next class bell rang, and Shichen still didn't open his eyes.
"Brother-in-law~ Where did Mea go? She couldn't have..."
A voice cut off halfway.
Shichen opened his eyes and saw Momo stepping into the office. He looked a bit awkward. "Momo, what brings you here..."
"Wow, Mea, you're actually hogging it all to yourself!" Momo huffed, stomping over.
"Slurp~ I'm not," Mea protested.
"I want some too!" Momo came to Shichen's other side and leaned down the same way as Mea.
"Momo, you..." Shichen couldn't help taking a deep breath.
"Mm? What's wrong, brother-in-law?" Momo tilted her head up, cheeks puffed.
"...Nothing."
"Don't steal mine!" Mea said unhappily.
"This is mine!"
"No, it's not!"
"Mmph!"
"Alright, alright, you two, stop arguing. There's enough for both of you," Shichen said, rubbing their heads to calm them.
So the two of them stopped bickering and just got busy.
When second period break finally came, they left together, satisfied and still licking their lips as they went.
"Mea, so you really did go all the way with brother-in-law the other day?" Momo asked.
"Yup~ Brother-in-law's amazing!" Mea said, eyes full of excitement.
"He is amazing," Momo nodded solemnly.
"Too bad Nana's so tsundere. She'll never get to experience how good brother-in-law is."
"Being tsundere ruins your life... Hey, should we find a chance to help her out?" Momo's eyes lit with mischief.
"Sure," Mea answered easily.
"Then let's plan something..."
"Don't you really like brother-in-law yourself?" Mea asked her curiously.
"Of course I like brother-in-law. That's why I want to help him, not Nana."
"I see."
...
Momo and Mea walked back into class together and instantly drew Nana's attention.
"Momo, Mea, why are you together? Don't tell me you two skipped class?" Nana marched over and demanded.
"The class was too simple," Momo said, spreading her hands.
"I went to see brother-in-law~" Mea admitted frankly.
"You went to him... to do what?"
"Mm~ Momo said I can't say."
"Why are you listening to her!" Nana snapped, annoyed.
"You really want to know?" Momo asked with a sly smile.
"What's that supposed to mean? You didn't drag Mea off to do something bad with him, did you?" Nana frowned.
If those two went to that guy, it definitely wasn't for anything proper!
She really couldn't figure it out. They were girls — shouldn't it usually be boys who like all this "naughty" stuff?
Why were they so proactive?
Was that right?
Or was she the strange one?
Were modern girls really this open already?
"If you want to know so badly, just smell Mea's mouth," Momo said.
"Her mouth?" Nana repeated, leaning toward Mea.
For some reason, she suddenly had a strong sense of déjà vu, like she already knew what this was.
Mea didn't act shy at all; she leaned in and exhaled gently toward Nana.
"Wait—that smell... You can't have...!"
The moment Nana caught a whiff, her face changed, turning both flustered and hot.
That smell was way too familiar — Momo had made her smell it before, and she'd already figured out what it was.
"Momo, how could you drag Mea into this!" Nana yelled, face burning as she glared at her sister.
"Nana, don't slander me. She was already there when I arrived," Momo said calmly.
"What?" Nana stared at Mea in disbelief.
"Hehe~" Mea smiled smugly.
"Mea, you... how could you..." Nana was completely thrown.
"Because it's really tasty~" Mea said, licking her lips, clearly still craving more.
"How could that possibly taste good!"
"If you don't believe us, just try it and you'll know."
"I'm not trying it! It already smells wrong, how could it taste good?!"
"Eeh~ But Momo and I both like it, and Lala does too, doesn't she?"
"T-that... There's something wrong with you three!"
"Nana, people who've never tried it don't get to comment~" Momo said.
"I..."
"Want to give it a shot?" Mea coaxed.
"Try it? How could I possibly..."
"You really don't want to? If you do, you'll be the same as us — then we can all do it together~"
"All together... You're insane."
"But how will you know if you don't try?"
"I... I don't want to!" Nana squirmed, but still shook her head.
"You're just embarrassed, right? In that case, I've got an idea," Momo suddenly said.
"What idea?"
"We'll switch bodies again, and you can use my body to go. That way brother-in-law won't know it's you."
"How can that possibly work! I'm nothing like you! I don't know anything!"
"It's fine. Brother-in-law's resting right now — this is the perfect chance."
"You two…"