The light of dawn filtered through the curtains of Daniel's room, painting the wooden floor with golden stripes that looked like fingers of light caressing the morning stillness. It was a scene of absolute peace, the kind that romantic painters tried to capture on canvas without success, because no painting could convey the feeling of warmth on the skin, the smell of freshly brewed coffee floating from the kitchen, the distant sound of birds greeting the new day.
And, of course, the visual spectacle of five naked women sleeping peacefully around him.
Daniel Hernández opened his eyes and, for a moment, simply allowed himself to exist. His left arm was trapped under Hikari's body, whose steady breathing moved her chest in a hypnotic rhythm. His right arm served as a pillow for Hibiki, who had intertwined her legs with his in an impossible knot during the night. On his chest, Reynare had found her usual spot, her silver hair spilled like a moonlit river over his skin. Beside her, Sakura lay on her side, her face serene, her lips curved in a dreamy smile.
And then there was Rias.
The Gremory princess, the heiress of one of the 72 Pillars, the sister of the most powerful Maou of the Underworld, lay to his right completely naked, her pale skin contrasting with the white sheets, her crimson hair spread on the pillow like a tamed fire. Her lips, slightly parted, let out small exhalations that were almost whispers. Her lashes, long and dark, cast tiny shadows on her cheeks.
Daniel looked at her. And, as every morning since Rias had moved into the mansion, he felt the world stop for an instant.
"You're incredibly beautiful," he whispered, so quietly that not even he was sure he had said it out loud.
Rias, as if she had heard him, smiled in her sleep and snuggled closer against his side.
The first day he had woken up like this, Daniel had suffered a momentary cardiac arrest. Literally. His heart had stopped beating for three full seconds while his brain processed the image of Rias Gremory, naked, sleeping beside him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Good morning, Daniel," she had said, opening her eyes with a lazy smile, completely unaware of the existential trauma she had just inflicted on him. "Did you sleep well?"
He had babbled something unintelligible. She had laughed, that crystalline sound that made his heart race, and kissed him on the cheek before getting up and stretching with a naturalness that suggested she had spent her whole life sleeping naked next to men in other people's beds.
"It's more comfortable," she had explained when he finally regained the ability to form coherent sentences. "Clothes bother me while I sleep. Don't they bother you?"
Daniel hadn't answered. His brain was too busy trying to process the image of Rias walking towards the bathroom with the grace of a goddess and the naturalness of a teenager in her own home.
That was a week ago.
Now, it was simply... normal.
Well, not normal. None of this was normal. But it was his new normal, and Daniel had learned to accept that his life had ceased to bear any resemblance to conventional reality from the moment Ddraig had chosen his soul as a home.
The problem, of course, was when the other girls discovered Rias's new habit.
It was Hibiki who first noticed it. Three days after Rias moved in, she entered the room at seven in the morning to wake Daniel, as she usually did, and found the image of the demon princess sleeping peacefully against her beloved's side, completely naked.
The scream woke up the entire neighborhood.
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?" Hibiki had exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Rias with a trembling finger.
Rias, who had opened her eyes with the same Olympian calm with which she did everything, smiled.
"Good morning, Hibiki-chan. Did you sleep well?"
"Don't change the subject! Why are you naked in Daniel-sama's bed!?"
"Because it's more comfortable," Rias replied, as if it were the most obvious explanation in the world. "Have you never tried it? You should. It's incredibly liberating."
Hibiki had blushed to the tips of her ears. And that night, when Daniel retired to sleep, he found Hibiki waiting for him in bed.
Naked.
"I'm not going to let Rias-senpai have an advantage over me," she had declared, with a determination that would have been admirable if it weren't for the fact that her cheeks were so red they looked like they were about to catch fire.
Daniel hadn't known whether to laugh or cry.
The next day, Hikari did the same. Then Reynare. Then Sakura, although she at least had the decency to blush all night. Even Tamamo, in her spiritual form, had partially materialized to join the trend, although her nature as a spirit made the concept of "nudity" a bit fuzzy.
And then there was Asia.
Poor Asia.
The first night she tried to join the "tradition," she had stood by the bed for twenty full minutes, her hands clutching the edge of her nightgown, her face alternating between bright red and deathly pale. Finally, when she gathered the courage to undress, her eyes met Daniel's for a fraction of a second, and her brain simply... shut down.
She fell to the floor like a ragdoll, unconscious before hitting the carpet.
"Asia!" Daniel had jumped up, covering himself with the sheet purely by instinct, and ran to help her.
"She's fine," said Reynare, who had already grown accustomed to these small domestic dramas. "Just a faint from acute embarrassment. Happens to the best of us."
Asia recovered ten minutes later, and when she woke up and saw Daniel leaning over her, half-naked, worried, her eyes rolled back again and she was about to faint once more.
"Maybe you should take it easy," Daniel suggested gently, stroking her hair. "There's no rush."
Asia nodded weakly, but in her eyes there was a determination that Daniel had learned to recognize: the same determination that had led her to leave the church, to follow a stranger to his home, to accept a harem without hesitation.
She would do it. She just needed time.
And Daniel, patiently, would give it to her.
But not everything was domestic chaos and feminine competitiveness. There were deeper, more fundamental things that were changing in Daniel.
The pain began a week after the Rating Game.
It wasn't a sharp pain, but a dull, deep ache that seemed to emanate from his very bones. As if someone were slowly replacing every cell in his body, one by one, with something new. Something different.
"It's the transformation, lad," Ddraig explained when Daniel asked him, one night when the pain had kept him from sleeping. "You've used the Balance Breaker more than recommended. You've fought enemies that pushed your body to the limit. You're accelerating a process that would normally take decades, even centuries."
"Does it always hurt?" Daniel asked, as a pang shot through his spine.
"It hurts because you're growing. Your organs are changing to adapt to your new power level. Your bones are becoming denser, more resistant. Your skin, your blood, even your brain—everything is mutating towards something that is no longer completely human." Ddraig's voice was serious but not alarmed. "It's uncomfortable, yes. But it's a sign that you are evolving."
"What am I becoming?"
"Something new. Something this world hasn't seen before." Ddraig paused. "A human-dragon hybrid with abilities that not even I fully understand. And with every battle, every challenge, every limit you overcome, you become more than you were."
Daniel didn't respond. But that night, as the pain coursed through his bones like electricity, he understood that his journey was far from over.
The changes weren't just physical.
His personality, his instincts, his way of relating to the world—everything was being subtly molded by the draconic essence flowing through his veins.
He first noticed it at school, during a particularly boring class. Motohama, Issei's friend, had approached Asia to ask for notes from a previous class. It was an innocent gesture, normal, the kind of everyday interaction that happens daily in any school in the world.
But Daniel felt something strange.
A warmth in his chest. A tension in his jaw. A primitive, almost animal impulse to step in between them.
"Grrrr..."
The sound escaped his throat before he could control it. It wasn't loud—barely a murmur, a whisper—but Motohama stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes meeting Daniel's for an instant.
And in that instant, Motohama felt something he couldn't explain. A sudden chill, a tightness in his chest, the absolute and inescapable certainty that he was in danger.
"I... I'm going now," he stammered, leaving the notes on Asia's desk and hurrying away.
Asia watched him go, confused, and then turned her gaze towards Daniel. Her eyes softened when she saw him, his jaw tense, his fists clenched on the desk.
"Daniel-sama," she whispered, and her voice was so soft, so full of love, "are you protecting me?"
Daniel blinked. The tension slowly dissipated, replaced by a wave of heat in his cheeks.
"I... it wasn't on purpose," he admitted. "I just... didn't like the way he was looking at you."
Asia smiled. It was a radiant smile, pure, that lit up the entire room.
"It's adorable," she declared. "That you want to protect me like that. It's the cutest thing you've done."
Daniel didn't know what to answer. But that night, when Reynare casually mentioned that he had "scared off" a street vendor who had gotten too close to her, and when Hikari commented that Daniel had "growled" at a guy who tried to flirt with her at the supermarket, he began to notice a pattern.
"You're becoming possessive," said Sona, with her usual frankness, while they shared tea in the living room. "It's not a bad thing, necessarily. But it is a change."
"You notice it?" Daniel asked, worried.
"I notice it. We all notice it." Sona adjusted her glasses, her eyes fixed on his. "And we all find it... comforting."
"Comforting?"
"It means you value us. That we're not interchangeable to you. That if someone tried to hurt us or take us away from you, you wouldn't allow it." She paused, and her lips curved into a subtle smile. "For us, that's love. Love in its purest and most primitive form. Dragon love."
Daniel looked at her. And in her eyes, he saw reflected everything he felt for them: protection, devotion, a deep desire to keep them safe, to see them happy, to be the man they deserved.
"I don't want to be toxic," he said finally. "I don't want to control you, or isolate you, or..."
"You're not," Sona interrupted. "You're possessive, yes. But you're also generous. You give us space, you encourage us to grow, you support us in everything we do. Possessiveness isn't the problem, Daniel. The problem would be if you tried to limit us. And you never have."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"Thank you, Sona."
"Don't thank me. I'm just telling you the truth." She stood up, approached him, and to their mutual surprise, sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You are ours. And we are yours. Simple as that."
Daniel kissed her. It was a soft kiss, tender, full of silent promises.
When they parted, Sona's cheeks were slightly flushed, but her smile was radiant.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, getting up with dignity, "I have student council duties to attend to. And you have a harem to continue spoiling."
She left the room with her usual elegance, leaving Daniel smiling foolishly.
The weeks passed in a chaotic mix of training, dates, supernatural politics, and domestic life.
Daniel had to visit Kyoto to calm Yasaka's nerves. The Yōkai leader had followed the Rating Game through magical transmissions, and although she knew Daniel had won, worry for his safety had kept her awake for days.
"Idiot," she told him, hugging him with a force that would have broken the bones of a lesser demon. "Idiot, idiot, idiot. How dare you face a Phoenix alone? And four hundred demons afterwards? Are you crazy?"
"A little," Daniel admitted, stroking her hair. "But I won, didn't I?"
"That's not the point," she grumbled, though her hug softened. "The point is you could have died. And I... I couldn't bear it."
Daniel didn't answer. He simply held her, letting the silence speak for him.
Kunou, Yasaka's daughter, had launched herself at him the moment she saw him, her little arms wrapping around his neck with a trust that warmed his heart.
"Daddy! Daddy! Did you see the bad guy? Did you hit him really hard? Did you win?"
"I won," Daniel replied, lifting her into his arms. "And I hit him very, very hard."
"Good!" Kunou exclaimed, with a fierceness that was disturbingly reminiscent of her mother. "Let him know not to mess with Kunou's family!"
Yasaka laughed, and the sound was like silver bells.
"Looks like you already have a lifelong admirer."
"I'll settle for two," Daniel replied, looking into her eyes.
Yasaka blushed. Kunou made a disgusted noise.
"So cheesy!" she exclaimed, covering her eyes. "Adults are so weird!"
Daniel spent the whole day with them, making up for lost time with games, walks, and a family dinner that tasted like home. When he finally returned to Kuoh, it was almost midnight, and he was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.
His girlfriends greeted him with reproaches.
"A whole day!" Hikari complained, crossing her arms. "You left us alone for a whole day!"
"And you didn't even tell us you were staying," added Hibiki, with an adorable pout.
"Yasaka-sama is also important," Reynare intervened, surprisingly. "But you could have sent a message."
Daniel raised his hands in surrender.
"I know, I know. I was an idiot. I'm sorry."
"Apologies aren't enough," said Rias, with a malicious smile that boded no good. "You're going to have to make it up to us."
"How?"
"Dates. With each one of us. Individually. Promises of alone time." She approached him, her garnet eyes sparkling with mischief. "And when the time comes... private moments."
Daniel swallowed.
"Deal."
The night ended with kisses, hugs, and promises whispered in ears. And although Daniel knew that balancing a harem of this size was a Herculean task, he also knew it was worth it.
Each one of them was special. Each one deserved his time, his attention, his love.
And he, by some miracle of the universe, had the opportunity to give it to them.
Outside the mansion, the world didn't stop.
The political climate in the Underworld was tense. The nobles Daniel had knocked unconscious with his Conqueror's Haki now looked at him with a fear bordering on reverential terror. None dared mention his name out loud without pausing, as if they feared uttering it might summon him.
"It's ridiculous," Sirzechs commented during a Maou meeting. "They fear him more than us. And we have ruled the Underworld for millennia."
"We rule with laws and structures," Ajuka replied, his fingers toying with a magical cube of his invention. "He rules with pure will. It's more... primitive. More fundamental. It's frightening in a way that laws cannot be."
Serafall nodded, uncharacteristically serious.
"The worst part is he doesn't seem to have political ambitions. If he wanted, he could be sitting on this council instead of us. But he prefers to stay in Kuoh, with his harem, living like a common human."
"That," said Sirzechs, "is what comforts me most. And at the same time, what worries me most."
"Why?"
"Because if he ever decides he wants something, there will be nothing we can do to stop him." Sirzechs exhaled slowly. "We can only hope that what he wants is always the right thing."
Meanwhile, Kokabiel still showed no signs of life.
Azazel had deployed research teams all over the world, but the fallen angel seemed to have vanished. His hideouts were empty, his followers dead or missing, his plans shrouded in absolute mystery.
"He's waiting," Azazel said during a call with Daniel. "I don't know what, but he's waiting. And when he decides to move, it's going to be fast and devastating."
"I know," Daniel replied. "That's why I keep training."
"Good. Because when the time comes, you're going to need everything you've got."
Heaven, for its part, had sent emissaries to the Underworld. They wanted to talk to Daniel, to assess if the bearer of the Boosted Gear could be an ally in their own internal conflicts.
The Maou were procrastinating the response.
"We cannot allow Heaven to get close to him," Sirzechs said privately to his fellow Maou. "We already have Grigori involved in this because of Reynare. If we add the angels, Daniel will become the center of a supernatural triumvirate. And we are not ready for that."
"And what do you propose?" asked Ajuka.
"Buy time. Postpone. Make them bored and go away." Sirzechs smiled, a tired smile. "It's not elegant, but it will work."
And so, the balance of power in the supernatural world hung by a thread, with Daniel Hernández at the center, unaware of the machinations weaving around him.
Or perhaps not so unaware.
His Observation Haki, now capable of seeing three full seconds into the future, sometimes whispered things to him. Fragments. Images. Possibilities.
A fallen angel with black wings, laughing in the darkness.
A woman with pink hair, falling through space.
A man with violet skin, sitting on a throne of destroyed planets.
Nothing concrete. Nothing he could use to prepare.
Only the certainty that the calm wouldn't last.
At school, life continued at its usual pace.
Daniel had stopped caring about what others thought. He kissed his girlfriends in the hallways, held their hands during lunch, hugged them without caring who was watching.
The students' reaction was... varied.
"Did you see? The Kuoh playboy kissed President Gremory this morning!"
"Only the President? I saw him kissing President Sitri yesterday."
"And that new girl, Asia, too!"
"And the twins from the other class."
"How can he have so many girlfriends? It's not fair!"
Daniel, listening to these comments with his sharp perception, could only sigh.
"'Kuoh Playboy,'" he muttered one day, walking to class. "What a horrible nickname."
"We love it," said Hikari, appearing at his side with a radiant smile. "It means we all love you."
"And that you love us all," added Hibiki, taking his other arm. "It's cute."
Daniel couldn't help but smile.
"You're terrible, you know that?"
"We know," they answered in unison, laughing.
Akeno watched everything from a distance, her expression enigmatic.
Since the Rating Game, her attitude towards Daniel had subtly changed. She was still playful, still flirted with him relentlessly, but there was something new in her eyes. Something deeper. More vulnerable.
Daniel noticed it. And although he wanted to get closer, help her heal the wounds she still carried, he knew Akeno had to take that step herself.
Her hatred for fallen angels was deep, ancestral. And although Reynare had been accepted by the rest of the harem, Akeno still couldn't look at her without feeling that knot in her stomach, that reminder of her own blood, her own heritage.
"Give me time," she had told him once, when Daniel tried to broach the subject. "Just... give me time."
He would give it to her. All the time she needed.
Tohsaka Rin, meanwhile, continued her eternal tsundere dance.
She denied everything. That she liked Daniel, that she wanted to spend time with him, that she felt anything more than friendship. But her actions betrayed her: the lunches she shared with him "by chance," the glances she threw his way when she thought he wasn't looking, the instant blush that appeared on her cheeks whenever he spoke to her.
"It's pathetic," Yukari commented, with her usual lack of filter. "Just admit you like him and get it over with."
"I don't like him!" Rin protested, her cheeks burning. "I just... he's just a friend!"
"Sure. And I'm the Emperor of Japan."
Rin had tried to strangle her. Yukari had laughed, dodging her attacks with the agility of someone who has spent years perfecting the art of running away.
Mitsuru, on the contrary, had adopted a much more direct approach.
"I am going to court you," she had told Daniel, bluntly, during one of the breaks. "My father has already given his permission. It's just a matter of time."
"And what if I don't want to be courted?" Daniel asked, amused.
"You don't have a choice." Mitsuru smiled, a confident, challenging smile. "I'm Mitsuru Kirijo. I always get what I want."
Daniel laughed.
"We'll see."
Mitsuru accepted the challenge with a determination that promised weeks—or months—of amusing battles of will.
Training continued without pause.
Every afternoon, after classes, Daniel and his girlfriends gathered in the dojo or the garden for their practice sessions. Hikari and Hibiki were always there, their electrical discharges lighting up the sunset with flashes of blue and pink. Rias had joined after seeing one of those sessions, fascinated by the choreography of power and precision.
"Can I try?" she had asked, with those eyes that Daniel couldn't refuse.
"Sure. But don't complain if you end up exhausted."
Rias hadn't complained. She trained with a dedication that surprised even Tamamo, who watched from the shadows with an approving smile.
Reynare, always seeking to improve, joined with the same iron discipline that had characterized her life as a fallen angel. Her three pairs of wings—newly acquired after the Rating Game—shone with a golden glow as she executed the techniques Daniel taught her.
"I want to be stronger," she would say, without needing explanations. "To protect you. To protect them all."
Tamamo, for her part, had found her niche in creating magical obstacles. Creatures of pure energy that attacked in waves, fields of increased gravity that made every movement feel like lead, illusions that challenged perception and forced one to rely on Haki rather than eyes.
"My husband must be prepared for anything," she would say, with that feline smile Daniel loved so much. "And I will make sure he is."
Even Sakura, the quietest of the group, participated in her own way. Her healing magic was invaluable after the most intense sessions, when bruises and sprains threatened to ruin the night. And although she didn't train in direct combat, her calm presence was an anchor for everyone.
The afternoon everything changed began like any other.
Training had been particularly brutal. Tamamo, inspired by some whim, had increased gravity threefold and conjured a dozen magical creatures that attacked relentlessly. Daniel and his girlfriends had fought for hours, dodging, striking, coordinating in a dance of power and precision that would have made any warrior weep with envy.
When they finally finished, they were wrecked.
"I can't go on," Hikari groaned, collapsing onto the grass.
"Me neither," added Hibiki, falling beside her. "Tamamo-sama is a sadist."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Tamamo replied, though her voice was weak and her tails, normally erect, hung limply around her. Even she, with all her millennia of experience, was exhausted.
Rias lay on her back, looking at the sky beginning to darken, her chest rising and falling with deep breaths. Reynare had closed her eyes, her wings folded against her back, completely still. Sakura, the only one who could still move, distributed water bottles with trembling steps.
Daniel looked at them and smiled.
"Anyone want to shower first?" he offered. "I can wait."
"I can't move," Rias replied, without opening her eyes. "If I try to get up, I'll die."
"Confirmed," said Hibiki. "We're dead. Please bury us together."
Daniel laughed.
"Okay. I'll go first, then. Rest."
He walked towards the house, his own muscles protesting with every step. The training had been brutal, yes, but there was something satisfying about that pain. It was proof that he was improving, that every day he got closer to the ideal of a warrior he had imagined.
The bathroom was empty, as he expected. He undressed slowly, letting his sweaty clothes fall to the floor without worrying about picking them up. Then he looked at himself in the mirror.
The face that stared back was his, but it was also different.
Sharper. More defined. Cheekbones more prominent, jaw more angular. His eyes, still brown, seemed to contain their own light, an inner glow that wasn't there before. His skin, white from his maternal heritage, contrasted with the blackness of his hair, creating an almost pictorial effect.
But the most striking were the scars.
The one on his abdomen was the worst. An irregular line, thick, crossing his torso from ribs to hip. Nyx's gift, the reminder of that battle where he almost lost not only his life, but everything he loved. Every time he saw it, he remembered the cold of primordial darkness, the void that had threatened to swallow him, the moment when his will was the only thing keeping him alive.
The others were smaller, more numerous. Marks from countless combats, from training pushed to the limit, from moments where luck and skill had combined to keep him alive.
"You've changed a lot," he murmured, talking to his reflection.
"That's good," Ddraig responded in his mind. "He who does not change, does not grow. And you, lad, have grown more in these months than most beings do in centuries."
"Does it hurt?" Daniel asked, touching Nyx's scar. "The change, I mean. Does it always hurt?"
"It hurts because you're alive. Because every cell in your body is being replaced by something better, stronger, more adapted to your new level of power. The pain is proof that you haven't given up."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"I guess that's something."
He turned, turned on the shower tap, and waited for the hot water to start falling. Steam filled the bathroom, fogging the mirror, blurring the edges of reality.
He stepped into the shower and the water hit his skin like a blessing.
He closed his eyes.
The heat relaxed his muscles, dissolving the tension accumulated from hours of training. He took the shampoo, applied it to his hair, and began massaging his scalp with his fingers. The scent of mint and green tea filled his senses, a small daily pleasure he appreciated more than he admitted.
His mind wandered.
He thought of Rias, of her radiant smile when she saw him win the Rating Game. Of Sona, of her brief but meaningful kiss in front of all the Maou. Of Yasaka, of the warmth of her embrace when he visited her in Kyoto. Of Kunou, calling him "daddy" with a trust that warmed his heart.
He thought of all of them. How lucky he was. How much he had to lose.
And that's why, precisely why, he kept training. Because he knew, with the certainty that only the Conqueror's Haki could provide, that the calm wouldn't last. That Kokabiel was out there, waiting. That Heaven and the Underworld and Grigori moved around him like chess pieces on a board too large to comprehend.
That soon, very soon, he would have to fight again.
But that was a problem for the future.
Now, he just wanted to enjoy the shower.
He rinsed out the shampoo, feeling the water clean his hair, washing away the dirt and sweat of the day. He blindly reached for the shelf where he kept the conditioner, his fingers searching for the familiar bottle.
And then, the world exploded in light.
It wasn't a soft light, like a sunrise or sunset. It was a white light, blinding, that seemed to come from all directions at once. Daniel felt the air vibrate around him, felt reality itself distort for an instant, felt something—no, someone—materializing in the space in front of him.
"PYON!"
The voice was high-pitched, cheerful, completely out of place in the context of a shower.
Daniel opened his eyes.
And there she was.
A girl.
A girl with pink hair, long down to her waist, with bright violet eyes and a radiant smile. She was wearing... nothing. Absolutely nothing. Her pale skin glowed under the bathroom light, her youthful curves exposed without the slightest shame.
And Daniel's hand—his left hand—was firmly gripping her left breast.
Silence stretched for a moment that seemed to last an eternity.
Daniel blinked.
The girl blinked.
Daniel squeezed, almost instinctively, to confirm that what he was feeling was real.
The girl laughed.
"Tickle, tickle!" she exclaimed, without the slightest trace of discomfort. "Do you always greet girls who appear in your bathroom like this?"
Daniel opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
No sound came out.
His brain, the same brain that had processed combat strategies against primordial gods, that had calculated spell trajectories in milliseconds, that had coordinated the movements of an entire harem, simply... refused to function.
"Lad," said Ddraig, and his voice was a mix of astonishment and barely contained amusement. "Do you want to explain to me what's happening?"
"No," Daniel managed to articulate finally. "No, I don't. Because I don't know. I have absolutely no idea what's happening."
The girl tilted her head, her pink hair moving like a cascade of silk.
"Are you the owner of this house? How nice! I just escaped from my planet and I need a place to stay!" She paused, and her smile widened. "By the way, could you let go of my breast? Not that it bothers me, but it's hard to introduce myself properly like this."
Daniel released his hand as if he had touched a hot iron.
"I'm sorry," he said automatically. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. You just... appeared... and I..."
"No worries!" The girl waved a hand, unconcerned. "On my planet, greetings are much more elaborate. This is quite tame, really."
Daniel looked at her. Really looked at her, for the first time, beyond the initial shock.
And then, like a thunderbolt, recognition struck him.
The pink hair. The violet eyes. The carefree, almost childish attitude towards situations any normal person would find embarrassing. The "pyon" she had said upon appearing.
Lala Satalin Deviluke.
The princess of the planet Deviluke. The protagonist of To Love-Ru. One of the most iconic harem series from his past life.
"No," Daniel whispered, taking a step back in the shower. "No, no, no, no, no."
"What's wrong?" Lala asked, confused. "Do you feel sick? Do you want me to call someone?"
"You... you're Lala, right?" he managed to ask, his voice trembling. "Lala Satalin Deviluke."
Lala's eyes widened.
"You know me!?" she exclaimed, excited. "Are you a fan of my inventions? Have you heard of me? How exciting! I've never met anyone on such a remote planet who knows who I am!"
Daniel ran a hand over his face, completely forgetting he was wet.
"This isn't happening," he muttered. "This can't be happening."
"What can't be happening?" Lala asked, approaching with curiosity. "Hey, are you okay? You look pale. Well, paler than normal for a human. Don't humans usually have skin more...?" She made a vague gesture with her hand. "Brown? Yellow? Something like that."
"I'm Mexican," Daniel replied automatically. "Well, my parents are Mexican. I was born in the US. It's... complicated."
"Oh! How interesting!" Lala clapped her hands, completely oblivious to her own nudity. "I've never met a Mexican-American before. What's your planet like? Does it have many inventions? Can I stay for a while? I need to hide from my father's ships."
Daniel looked at her. Really looked at her, processing every word.
Ships. Father. Escape.
"Your father's ships?" he repeated weakly. "The ships chasing you? The spaceships?"
"Yes!" Lala nodded vigorously. "My father wants me to marry a bunch of boring suitors, so I ran away. I used my invention, the Warp-Warp Pyon-kun, to teleport to a random place, and I ended up here." She looked around curiously. "It's a very nice bathroom, by the way. Very... earthly. I like it."
Daniel felt his brain trying to process too much information at once.
Lala Satalin Deviluke. In his bathroom. Naked. Talking about spaceships and boring suitors.
This wasn't in any script. This wasn't High School DxD. This was a crossover. A damn crossover with To Love-Ru.
"Ddraig," he said mentally, with a calmness he didn't feel, "tell me this isn't happening."
"Lad," the dragon replied, and his voice was as serious as Daniel had ever heard it, "I'd tell you you're dreaming, but I know the difference between a dream and reality. This is real. Very real. And that girl... that girl radiates an energy I've never felt before. It's not demonic, not divine, not anything I recognize. It's... different."
"Different how?"
"Different in the sense that her mere presence should be causing shockwaves in the fabric of reality. And yet, it causes none. It's as if... as if her existence were completely natural, no matter how absurd the situation is."
Daniel sighed. A long, deep sigh that seemed to come from the depths of his soul.
"It's okay," he said out loud, both for Ddraig and for himself. "It's okay. I can handle this. I just... I just need a moment to process."
"Process what?" Lala asked, tilting her head with that infinite curiosity that characterized her. "Hey, do you have any clothes I can wear? Because my robot, Peke, should be on his way with my combat outfit, but it might take a while to find me. In the meantime, being naked is fun and all, but it's starting to get a little cold."
Daniel looked at her. He saw her open, sincere expression, completely devoid of malice. He saw the innocence in her eyes, the absolute trust with which she surrendered to a situation that anyone else would find terrifying.
And he understood, in that moment, why Lala Satalin Deviluke was one of the most beloved characters from his past life.
Because she was pure. Because she was genuine. Because she was, in the deepest sense of the word, good.
"Yes," he said finally, surrendering to the absurdity of the situation. "Yes, I have clothes. Wait here. Well, not here, in the shower. Get out of the shower. I'm going to find something for you to wear."
"Thank you!" Lala exclaimed, and her smile was so bright it lit up the whole bathroom. "You're very kind. What's your name?"
"Daniel," he replied, getting out of the shower and grabbing a towel to cover himself. "Daniel Hernández."
"Daniel!" Lala repeated, savoring the name. "I like it. It's strong. It's manly. It's a good name for the first friend I make on this planet."
She stepped out of the shower with the same naturalness with which she had entered, her young, slender body gleaming under the bathroom light. Daniel averted his gaze, his cheeks burning.
"I'll go get clothes," he said, and left the bathroom before his brain could process more images than it already had.
In the hallway, he leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths.
"You okay, lad?" Ddraig asked, with a concern that almost seemed genuine.
"No," Daniel replied. "But I will be. Just... give me a minute."
He closed his eyes. Counted to ten. Then to twenty.
When he opened them, his mind was clearer.
Lala Satalin Deviluke was in his house. The princess of Deviluke, the genius but clumsy inventor, the girl who could cause chaos wherever she went with her absurd inventions and overwhelming personality.
This was going to be interesting. This was going to be chaotic. This was going to be, probably, the greatest challenge to his sanity since he arrived in this world.
But also, he realized with an ironic smile, it was going to be fun.
Very, very fun.
He grabbed a t-shirt and pants from the laundry room and returned to the bathroom. Lala was still there, waiting patiently, her violet eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"Here you go," he said, handing her the clothes. "It's not much, but it'll do until your robot arrives."
"Thanks, Daniel!" Lala took the clothes and began to dress without the slightest modesty. Daniel turned his head, feeling his cheeks warm again. "You're very kind. Are all humans this kind?"
"No," Daniel replied. "Most are considerably less kind, actually."
"What a shame!" Lala finished dressing, the t-shirt was too big on her and the pants were baggy everywhere, but her smile was radiant. "Well, lucky I found the kind one!"
Daniel finally turned to look at her. And despite everything—the chaos, the confusion, the absolute absurdity of the situation—he couldn't help but smile.
"Welcome to Earth, Lala," he said. "I guess we have a lot to talk about."
"Yes!" she exclaimed, taking his hand with a trust that seemed to know no bounds. "Tell me everything about this planet! And about you! And about why there are so many strange energies in this house! And about the girls sleeping in your room! I sensed them when I arrived!"
Daniel blinked.
"You can sense them?"
"Sure. I have highly developed senses. It's part of being a princess of Deviluke." She paused, and her expression became thoughtful. "There are many. And they all smell like you. Are they your wives?"
"Fiancées and girlfriends, mostly," Daniel replied, surrendering to the inevitable conversation. "It's... complicated."
"Oh! How interesting!" Lala's eyes lit up. "You have a harem? My father has a harem! Well, technically, my mother is his only official wife, but he has many concubines. It's common on Deviluke!"
Daniel didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"I guess so," he said finally. "I guess I have a harem."
Lala smiled, a smile that seemed to contain a thousand promises and a thousand problems.
"How nice," she said. "So you already know how these things work. That will make things easier!"
"What things?"
But Lala was no longer listening. She was looking out the hallway window, towards the night sky, and her expression had become serious for the first time since she appeared.
"They're coming," she said. "My father's ships. They found Peke."
Daniel approached the window. And there, in the starry sky, he saw what could only be artificial lights moving with a precision that no Earthly technology could match.
Spaceships.
Over Kuoh.
"This can't be happening," he murmured.
"Oh, but it is happening, lad," said Ddraig, and his voice was a mix of amusement and resignation. "And by the look of those ships, this is only the beginning."
Daniel sighed.
Another arc. Another crisis. Another threat.
But this time, at least, it came accompanied by a pink-haired girl with a smile radiantly unaware of the chaos she brought with her.
"It's okay," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. "I can handle this."
Lala looked at him, and her smile widened.
"I knew you were special, Daniel!" she exclaimed, hugging him with a surprising strength for her size. "We're going to be great friends! You'll see!"
Daniel, trapped in the embrace of an alien princess, could only think one thing:
Life is never boring.
In the sky, the Deviluke ships approached slowly, their sensors scanning the planet for their lost princess.
In the mansion, Daniel's girlfriends slept peacefully, unaware of the storm brewing.
And in the bathroom, the shower water continued to run, forgotten, a silent witness to the moment Daniel Hernández's life took an interstellar turn.
The chaos was just beginning.