The afternoon sun was already beginning to set when the six of us arrived in front of my house.
"We're here!" Lala cheerfully exclaimed before immediately running ahead to open the door.
"Excuse me..." Miko stepped inside hesitantly.
"Hoho, so this is your house, Ace," Yuki said while looking around curiously.
I walked inside.
"Come on in first. You can look around later. We're home."
The moment we entered, Tohru greeted us.
"Welcome home, Ace-sama, Lala-sama, Asia-sama, and honored guests."
I gave Tohru a small nod and introduced her to Yuki, Miko, and Ayano before heading into the living room and sitting down on the sofa.
Ah, I forgot to tell Craftbot we were having guests. Not that it really mattered.
Yuki sat beside me on the sofa.
"Do you like maids?" she asked while nudging me with her elbow. "Should I wear a maid outfit too? Ah, I bet you'll make all of us wear maid outfits while you act like a cruel master. Kyaa~"
Where did she even get those wild fantasies from?
Though... That idea sounded surprisingly interesting. I'll think about that later.
Instead, I noticed Tohru and Ayano briefly staring at each other.
Tohru... you're not planning to eat Ayano, are you?
"Ace, are you home?" I heard Craftbot's voice as he floated out of the room he normally used for recharging.
"I'm out of lubricant oil. Could you-"
Craftbot suddenly stopped talking before finishing his sentence.
Within milliseconds, he switched into "normal robot mode."
"HE-LLO. HU-MANS. I-AM-A-NOR-MAL-RO-BOT. BZZZT."
He spoke in an obviously fake robotic voice, complete with sound effects that wouldn't fool anyone.
He seriously needed acting lessons.
There was no way anyone would fall for tha-
"Wow! Ace, you have a robot!"
Miko. You seriously fell for that?
What about everyone else?
"Miko, he's obviously pretending," Yuki said. "This is a classic cliché. A self-aware robot pretending to be a normal robot around strangers. Right, Ayano?"
"Eh... yes, you're correct, Yuki-sama."
You believed it too?! Would these people also believe an alien if they claimed they were just cosplaying?
"INITIATING. RESTART. SEQUENCE. BEEP. BOOP."
Craftbot slowly began floating back toward his room.
"Hold it."
I stopped him.
"You don't need to pretend, Craftbot."
Craftbot froze.
"You're serious?"
His voice immediately returned to normal.
"See?! I knew it!" Yuki shouted proudly while pointing at him.
Yeah, Reading lots of manga and novels apparently helped when it came to spotting clichés, Especially when you lived inside one.
"Ace! You ruined my perfect robot disguise!"
"You're blaming me? Blame your terrible acting. Even my grandmother could do better."
"You've never even met your grandmother! How would you know that?!"
"The intuition of a grandson."
"..."
"Oh, a conversation between two characters who are obviously close! Tell me, which one of you is going to die?" Yuki clapped excitedly.
"Yuki-san, I don't think you're supposed to say something like that," Asia said nervously.
Craftbot floated closer.
"So, who are they?"
"Isn't it obvious? They're my girlfriends."
"Excuse me," Miko interrupted. "I'm not."
"Ah, so this is what rejection feels like." I clutched my chest dramatically. "After everything we've been through together... sob... sob..."
"We've never done anything together!"
"You don't remember? At your house, we hugged and you even got my shirt wet."
"Hoho, so Miko is quite aggressive." Yuki immediately teased her.
"Miko-san..." Asia covered her blushing face.
"T-That's not what happened!" Miko shouted with a red face.
"Relax, relax, Miko. We can discuss that later. More importantly, who is this robot gentleman?" Yuki asked.
"My name is Craftbot. One of the strongest Power Spheres." Craftbot crossed his arms while speaking in a deep heroic voice that sounded suspiciously similar to a certain red and blue truck robot.
"Power Sphere?"Miko grabbed her head.
"Wonderful. Another term I don't know that's probably related to aliens or the supernatural." She looked directly at me.
And she was right. Getting this much information in one day was probably excessive for a normal person.
"What? That's not my fault."
I turned toward Craftbot.
"More importantly, why are you talking like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like that! Why do you sound like a robot that's about to say 'Let's roll out'? What have you been watching?"
"None of your business."
"Alright then. Craftbot, may I touch you a little?" Yuki asked. "I've always wanted to touch a real alien robot."
"Hmm." Craftbot rubbed his metallic chin.
"You may. But what do I get in return?"
"You said you needed lubricant oil, right? I can buy you expensive oil."
"DEAL!"
Craftbot immediately floated over.
Yuki reached out and touched him. "Oh. I thought you'd feel colder since you're made of metal."
"Hmph. Metal? I was built from rare materials that are both lightweight and durable."
After Yuki started touching him, Lala, Asia, and Miko joined in as well. Especially his forehead.
I... I was jealous.
Ah.
I sounded exactly like some of my classmates now.
So this was how they felt.
Ugh, I'd rather send Tengkotak's information to Zastin.
I stood up.
"Where are you going, Ace?" Lala asked.
"My room. There's something I need to do."
I pointed at Craftbot.
"Try not to get dismantled."
"As if they could."
You really shouldn't have said that in front of them. Especially Yuki.
Now she'd definitely try.
After entering my room, I sent all the important information about Tengkotak to Zastin.
Their names.
Their abilities.
Their roles.
I even included information about Boboiboy and his friends for completeness.
Once I finished, I returned to the living room.
And immediately regretted it.
Ayano was holding Craftbot down.
Yuki was approaching with a screwdriver. "Let's see what your insides look like. Hehehe."
"NOOO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!" Craftbot struggled desperately, but Ayano continued restraining him.
You're a robot, Shouldn't you be stronger than a girl like Ayano? Was he starting to rust?
Then Craftbot spotted me.
"ACE! HELP! GET YOUR CRAZY GIRLFRIEND AWAY FROM ME!"
"Who are you calling crazy?!" Yuki protested.
"WHO ELSE WOULD I BE TALKING ABOUT?!"
"Ayano, hold him tighter. I'm going to loosen every screw in this robot!"
---
After that chaos settled down, we sat around chatting.
I explained Power Spheres to Yuki and Miko while Craftbot and Asia stayed as far away from Yuki as possible.
"There are way too many things for me to process today," Miko complained.
"Yeah, I agree with Miko," Yuki said.
"That's life."
Just then, Tohru's voice echoed through the house. "Everyone, dinner is ready."
Hearing that, we all headed toward the dining room.
The table had been extended, and there was food everywhere.
"Are you sure this isn't too much?" Yuki asked.
"Being able to cook this many delicious dishes... you must be an amazing chef," Miko praised.
"Ahem. This is merely a maid's duty. Hmm hmm, yes." Tohru puffed out her chest proudly.
I noticed her glancing toward ayano.
Why?
We all sat down.
"Ayano, sit and eat too," Yuki said.
"I'm sorry, Yuki-sama. A maid does not eat at the same table as her master."
Technically correct But also wrong.
Your master just ordered you to sit down.
Tohru suddenly stood up.
"Uh, Tohru? What are you doing?"
"I'm a maid."
No, How was that related?
"And?"
"As Ayano-san said."
I placed a hand on my forehead.
Were they seriously competing to see who was the better maid?
That explained the staring contest earlier.
At least Tohru wasn't releasing killing intent.
"No. Sit down. Both of you."
They opened their mouths to protest.
"No arguments. Ayano sits. Tohru sits. You can both stop being maids for a few minutes. And Tohru, you're not even getting paid. You're doing this because you want to."
"But-"
"Shh." I cut them off. "My house. My rules. Sit."
Technically it was my parents' house.
Eventually, both of them gave up and sat down.
Honestly... This was exhausting.
And it wasn't even late yet.
---
Zastin's Spaceship
(Zastin POV)
I was reviewing the information Ace-sama had provided about the Power Sphere Hunters.
At first, I assumed they were ordinary hunters.
I was wrong.
A massive display screen showed detailed information regarding one of the most dangerous Power Sphere Hunter teams in existence, Tengkotak.
The first profile belonged to a green-skinned female alien wearing red armor and possessing a square-shaped head.
Kiki Ta.
Pilot and sniper.
A Kubulus.
The Kubulus were an intelligent square-headed species.
In fact, every Power Sphere was originally created by their race.
Long ago, they developed Power Spheres to defend their world from invaders and advanced their technology to Level 20.
Then greed consumed them.
They continued creating more and more Power Spheres for selfish purposes until they exhausted and polluted their world's resources. Their civilization collapsed to Level 7.
A truly tragic story.
The next profile appeared.
Gaga Naz.
Another Kubulus.
Blue-skinned.
Massive build.
Twin shoulder cannons.
The muscle of the team.
Next came Yoyo Oo.
Green-skinned.
Thin.
A device containing four yellow spheres floated above his head.
According to the report, those spheres greatly enhanced his intelligence.
He was the team's strategist.
Then came Ciciko.
Small.
Child-sized.
Officially, she was merely a cleaner and servant.
Unofficially, that was a disguise.
"Looks like even a team like theirs can have an infiltrator," one of my subordinates, Jaja, commented.
"Of course. No matter how capable a group is, infiltration is always possible," added Zaja.
These were the same two soldiers I had once assigned to capture Lala-sama. They had returned defeated by Ace-sama and smelling terrible.
"Focus."
I looked at them.
"We are dealing with dangerous Power Sphere Hunters."
"Yes, sir!"
Finally, the most dangerous member appeared.
Bora Ra.
Red skin.
One broken antenna.
Leader of Tengkotak.
And the individual we needed to fear the most.
His ability allowed him to create black holes.
No one had ever witnessed him using their full power.
Even so, the danger was obvious.
"Haah... We started out chasing a princess, and now we're going up against one of the most dangerous hunter groups in the universe," Kaja complained.
"Hey! Zastin-sama can hear you," Jaja whispered.
Kaja immediately covered his mouth.
I understood their feelings.
Who wouldn't be nervous facing individuals labeled among the most dangerous?
Certainly not me.
"Alright. We know our targets now. Begin preparations."
"But Captain, there's one more file."
Jaja pointed at the final report.
Right, There was one remaining document.
If I remembered correctly, it contained information regarding the hero who protected that nation. Though "nation" mostly referred to the area around where he lived.
Earth's definition of a hero was rather strange.
"We'll review that tomorrow. It's important, but not urgent."
"Understood!"
Very well, Time to prepare for the capture of the hunters who had crossed into our kingdom's territory.