“That… sounds ridiculously complicated.”
Gabrielle couldn’t believe her friend was saying that. “It’s not that hard once you learn how airwave patterns are sent and received by the many devices that people use to communicate.”
“I think I have a headache.” Selene pressed a hand to her forehead.
While Gabrielle tried to explain the creation of airwaves and radial communication patterns to Selene, Nyx continued studying Gabrielle. She wondered about her new friend. The way she kept studying her was kind of weird. There were no bad vibes coming from her, but the petite, dark-haired girl seemed abnormally interested in just watching what she did.
Shrugging, Gabrielle kept trying to explain her theories to Selene. It was sad. No matter how much she tried to simplify her explanation, Selene kept saying that she didn’t understand.
Alex understood almost everything she said. Sure, some of it took a bit of thinking, but he would eventually understand her concepts. She guessed that was because, like her, Alex was a genius.
Most of her fellow angelisians never understood her theories either.
“Why if it isn’t Gabrielle,” a voice said somewhere to their left. The trio turned to see Jameson walking up to their table. He looked down at Gabrielle, who stared up at him with her ears twitching, and smiled. “I was just thinking about how much I missed your presence in my life, and lo and behold, here you are, appearing before my vision like a beautiful fantasy. And I don’t see Alexander anywhere in sight. It must have been fate that brought us together this day.”
Gabrielle continued to look at him. Then…
“Who are you?”
“Geh!” Jameson stumbled back and clutched a hand to his chest as though experiencing an acute pain. “You… how could you ask that question? I’m Jameson, the King of Romance, a man of impeccable taste and a deep-seated, burning love for you.”
“King of what?” Gabrielle tilted her head.
“Jameson.” Selene sighed. “What are you doing here?”
Jameson acted like he’d only just seen her, which put a frown on Selene’s face. “Oh, Selene. I didn’t expect to see you here as well. What are you doing here with my beautiful Gabrielle?”
“She’s shopping with me and Nyx!” Gabrielle declared happily. She received an amused smile from Jameson in return.
“Is that so? You and… Nyx… huh?”
Jameson looked down and found himself confronted by a beautiful girl with pale-skin, long hair the color of midnight, and the sexiest leather dress he’d ever seen. Emotionless red eyes stared at him with a look that made him feel like an insect—less than an insect. He felt like the dirt beneath this girl’s boots.
His world became consumed by this vision of virginal beauty.
He knelt down next to the girl, smiling as he took one of her hands. For reasons that couldn’t be scientifically explained, she imagined sparkles appearing around the blond man as he stared into her eyes with an expression that greatly disturbed her.
“Hello, I do not believe you and I have been formally introduced. My name is Jameson de Truante, the man who is known throughout the galaxy as the King of Nobility. I am the son of a wealthy magnate. I have one sister. I enjoy spending time with beautiful women, admiring beautiful women, and taking long walks on the beach with beautiful women.” He paused, and then remembered something. “Wait, we don’t have a beach, do we?”
“No,” Selene stated dryly. “We don’t.”
Jameson quickly recovered his groove. “I see… in that case, I like taking long walks through the… park. I know that we do not know each other very well, but I would love to take you out on a date. Perhaps this Friday, if you aren’t too busy? I promise to show you a good time.”
Nyx gave Jameson the mile-long stare. The shameless playboy didn’t appear to notice, which she realized was because he wasn’t staring at her face, but at her chest and legs.
She pulled a band off her arm.
Without warning, Jameson’s body was flattened like a pancake when something too fast for anyone to see smashed into him. The durasteel plate underneath him dented as he was slammed into it. He didn’t even get the chance to scream before his eyes rolled up in the back of his head and he passed out. Before anyone could notice, Nyx snapped the armband she’d pulled off back onto her wrist.
Gabrielle and Selene silently watched the exchange. Nyx’s face actually showed some emotion, even if it was simply in the form of a glare.
“I hate perverts,” she declared before standing up, grabbing her bags, and walking away. Gabrielle and Selene looked at each other, and then stood up to follow her.
“What just happened?” Selene asked.
“I’m not sure.” Gabrielle tilted her head. “It looked like that wristband Nyx had transformed into a giant fist and squashed that Jamie guy, but it all happened so fast.”
“A giant fist, huh? That’s some imagination you’ve got there.”
“Tee-hee.” Giggling, Gabrielle poke out her tongue.
8
Alex and Kazekiri finally checked off the last task on the list that Keiichi gave them. It had taken a lot of time, especially since at least thirty minutes had been spent at Jasmine’s cafe, but they’d finally managed to complete everything.
“Your brother gets up to a lot of trouble, doesn’t he?” Alex asked, stretching his arms above his head. Most of the tasks he’d done involved heavy lifting, and while his crisis suit, hidden underneath his white shirt, long-sleeved jacket, and pants, ensured that he was more than up to the task, his muscles still felt stiff.
“It does seem like he has been getting into even more trouble than I remember as of late.” Kazekiri frowned. “I’m sorry you got dragged into my problems.”
They were walking across a large walkway. Ships passed by overhead and underneath. People walked alongside them. However, no one paid them any mind. They probably thought she and Alex were a young couple walking together.
The thought made her want to blush, but she resisted, just barely.
“Heh, what are you talking about?” Alex grinned as he threw his hands behind his head. “I offered to help, didn’t I? If I didn’t want to help out, there’s nothing you or anyone else could have done to make me.”
After a moment, Kazekiri nodded in agreement. “Yes, I suppose that is true.”
Alex was a stubborn individual. Headstrong and Reckless. Kazekiri knew full well that if he didn’t want to do something, nothing on Mars could make him do it.
“Besides, I had a lot of fun today.” When Kazekiri stared at him with an incomprehensible look, Alex smiled. “It was really interesting getting to know you better. You and I have never really spent much time together. It was nice. We should do it again some time.”
“A-again?” Kazekiri squeaked.
“Yeah, again, as in, we should hang out some more.” His eyes brightened. “Hey, I know. I should invite you to hang out with Gabrielle and Selene.”
“Selene?” Kazekiri’s face darkened.
“Yeah, we sometimes go out when all of us are free. Ryoko and Sarah have come with us once or twice as well, but Sarah doesn’t like men, so it’s normally just Ryoko. Alice also occasionally joins us, but we kind of have to force her… Oh, and Nyx will probably be joining us as well. I think it would be fun if you came with us. Then all of us could get to know you better.”
“I will… think about it,” Kazekiri replied diplomatically.
Alex studied Kazekiri. She didn’t sound quite as enthusiastic as he’d been hoping she would, but that was okay. Once she started spending more time with them and saw how fun it was, he knew she would come around. She might have been a stickler for the rules, but he could tell that she’d enjoyed the time they spent had on various odd jobs together. It was impossible to fake that smile.
How much more fun would she have with several more people to hang out with? That was his thinking.
“I hope you decide to join us. I’d like to know you better
.” Alex gazed at Kazekiri and tried to show her his sincere desire through eye contact.
“D…”
“D?” Alex blinked. He looked at Kazekiri and became alarmed. “H-hey! Kiri-Kiri! Are you okay? Your face is all—”
“D-don’t think you can just say stuff like that to me, you idiot!” Kazekiri exploded, pointing a quivering finger at him. “I-I’m onto you! If you think I’m going to let you corrupt my moral backbone, you’ve got another thing coming!”
With that, Kazekiri dropped her hand, turned around, and bolted out of sight. Alex stared after her for several seconds, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
“Was it something I said?” Alex wondered out loud before deciding that it must have been. Why else would Kazekiri run off like that?
Thinking on it, that was pretty unusual behavior for her. Whenever Alex said something that she didn’t like, Kazekiri would normally go into her lecture mode, which consisted of her lecturing him on the virtues of acting with prudence and not being reckless, and then stating that he was corrupting the moral backbone of their society. This new Kazekiri confused him.
Shaking his head, Alex decided to think on this later. He still had to get home. To that end, he hopped onto a shuttle that took him close to the convenient store near his house. After buying groceries for dinner that night, Alex arrived back home.
“I’m home!” he called out, taking off his shoes and leaving them by the door.
“Alex!”
A cheerful and—thankfully—fully dressed Gabrielle slammed into him. Alex had been expecting it this time, and because she had clothes on, he wasn’t stunned into stupefaction. He caught the girl and twirled her around, laughing with her before setting her feet back on the tiled floor.
“Gabrielle, did you have fun with Selene and Nyx?”
“Uh-huh!” Gabrielle’s head bobbed up and down. “I had a blast. We toured the city and went shopping for Nyx, and I even got to try out Mr. Map.”
“How did it work?” asked a curious Alex. They hadn’t been able to test that invention yet, mainly because they were so busy with their other inventions. He was glad that Gabrielle had found the time to take it on a trial run.
Gabrielle puffed out her chest and smiled proudly. “There are still some glitches, and the hologram becomes grainy in certain areas or when the airwaves aren’t as heavy, but it works really well.” She gave him a thumbs up. “The test was successful!”
“Really? That’s awesome!” He and Gabrielle shared a high-five. “So now we can count at least four inventions we’ve made that work almost exactly like they’re supposed to.”
“Yep!”
When they made their way into the living room, it was to find Alice and Nyx watching TV. Alice was immersed in the show, something about magical space girls, while Nyx simply seemed to be watching because it was more interesting than counting cracks on the ceiling. When Alex and Gabrielle entered, she looked up.
“Hey, you two,” Alex greeted.
“Big bro.”
“…”
“I heard you bailed on spending time with Jasmine.” Alex ruffled an annoyed Alice’s hair, which only served to annoy her further.
“Jasmine was being troublesome. She wanted me to work as a maid at her café. Like I’d do something so tedious.”
“I suspected as much.” Alex nodded to himself, and then turned to Nyx, smiling kindly. “And what about you? I hope you had a good time with Gabrielle and Selene.”
Nyx didn’t so much as blink as she stared at him with her emotionless eyes. “I am… not sure.”
Alex did blink. “You’re not sure? How can you not be sure?” When all Nyx did was stare at him, he sighed. “Well, I’m sure you’ll eventually figure it out. Just keep spending more time with them.”
The staring continued, making Alex uncomfortable.
“Right… so, I’m just going to put these away, and then get started on dinner.”
“Oh, oh, do you need help?” Gabrielle asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.
Alex thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head. “Naw, I think I’ve got it this time. I’m not making anything special. Just curry.”
Alice twitched. “How can you possibly say that curry isn’t special? Curry is only the best, most amazing food in the entire galaxy! You can search far and wide and never find a dish better than curry! It’s—” Alice noticed the stares that she was getting, coughed into her hand, and sat back down with an embarrassed blush. “I mean, it’s really good… troublesome brother.”
“Whatever you say, Alice.”
Alex ignored Alice’s childish glare, walked into the kitchen, put the groceries away, and began preparing dinner. Curry actually was really easy to make, so it didn’t take a whole lot of time. He was done before too long and what Alex was beginning to think of as his extended family all sat down to eat.
9
After dinner, Alex and Gabrielle tried to wash the plates using one of their newest inventions. Alice and Nyx, who remained behind to watch, stared at the contraption, which looked like a giant octopus that hovered several dozen centimeters off the ground.
“I call this Mr. Clean-Clean Octopus,” Gabrielle told everyone. “I thought about how hard it is for people to clean because we only have two arms, and then I thought to myself, ‘what if we had eight arms?’ That’s how Alex and I came up with the idea for this.”
Alice continued staring at the octopus with her best “what the hell am I looking at?” expression before shifting her gaze to Alex. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Bro? That contraption looks dangerous.”
Alex frowned at his little sister. “Of course I’m sure. Gabrielle and I have spent hours down in the workshop building this. All of the programs and algorithms are flawless, and none of the components were broken or cracked when we checked them over. All that’s left to do is take it for a test run.”
“Okay, okay. Take a freezing tablet, Bro,” Alice muttered before sighing. “So, how is this troublesome device supposed to work?”
Gabrielle took over with the explanation. “It operates on a very simple algorithm that allows it to recognize when something is dirty and clean. Then it uses a powerful cleaning agent that spray out of its suckers, which also second as scrubbers.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Alice admitted.
“We designed it to be simple. Now all we need to do is test it,” Alex said. “Gabby, would you do the honors?”
“Of course!”
Gabrielle pressed a button on a small remote control that she was holding. The machine whirred to life. It rumbled and shook, its previously black eyes glowing bright red as power ran through its body. All eight of its arms began moving. They wriggled and bent as if testing to make sure everything was in working order.
Its photoreceptors blinked several times before looking for something to clean. It eventually fixated on the pile of dirty dishes, and without any prompting, it began cleaning them just like it was supposed to.
“You see!” Gabrielle sounded out victoriously. “Our invention worked!”
“Heck yeah!” Another high-five was shared between Alex and Gabrielle. It was always awesome when their inventions worked.
“Okay, I’ll admit that is kind of impressive,” Alice admitted. Nyx didn’t say anything, but Alex thought he saw the pretty girl nodding her head.
Mr. Clean-Clean Octopus finished its task of cleaning the dishes. When it saw that there were no more dishes left to clean, it began searching for something else that was dirty. It found that something else in a small speck of dirt on Alice’s clothing. Thus, without warning, the cleaning robot stuck its suckers to Alice and lifted her up.
“Eeek! Alex! What is this troublesome thing doing?!”
“I-I don’t know!” Alex sounded just as shocked as Alice. “It must be a bug in the programming. It’s only supposed to clean dishes! Gabrielle, turn it off.”
“Right!”
G
abrielle tried to press the switch that would turn Mr. Clean-Clean Octopus off, but before she could, the octopus grabbed onto her, too. Its tentacle wrapped around the shocked girl, lifting her into the air and causing her to drop the remote control, which shattered on the ground. Nyx looked confused as to what she should do when she, too, was grabbed by the cleaning robot.
“Alex! Get me down from here!” Alice shouted.
“Don’t worry, Alice,” Gabrielle assured her—hopefully—soon-to-be sister-in-law. “I can just break out with my—” a spray of cleaning agent shot at Gabrielle, some of which hit her wings. Gabrielle went limp as all of her strength left her. “N-no… not my wings…”
More cleaning agent shot out at the girls from the many suckers on its tentacles. Their clothing then began to dissolve. It slowly peeled away, revealing centimeter after centimeter of vibrantly glowing skin.
“Kya! What’s happening to my clothes?!” Alice shrieked.
“It’s the cleaning agent,” Alex said as he tried to think of a way to get this creature to let go of his friends and sister. “The cleaning agent is made from an acidic base. It doesn’t hurt human skin, but it is strong enough dissolve clothing.”
With no plan coming to mind, Alex bull-rushed the machine to try and break it. Doing so would hurt him. It would be like breaking his own child, but he knew that something needed to be done. If they couldn’t stop it by shutting it off, then he would have to stop it by force!
Several seconds later, Alex plowed straight through a wall when he tried hitting the cleaning robot and it hit back. It was a good thing that he was wearing his crisis suit.
“Iyan!” Gabrielle moaned as her ears and wings were sprayed some more. Her clothing dissolved quickly, leaving her bare as the day she was born and a thousand times more sexy. Nyx’s cloths also dissolved, exposing her beautiful body to everyone there. Alex had just walked back in when he found himself frozen by the sight of two very naked and very gorgeous girls.
A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol 4 Page 11