The Alien Gamer is My Girlfriend?
Disclaimer: I do not own Haiyore! Nyaruko-san or anything else mentioned in this story.
Author's note: Writing this took way more time than I ever expected or can justify, and there are two reasons for that. First off: It wasn't nearly as easy for me as Problem Couple, I had some problems coming up with a scenario and I'm still not sure I managed to keep the story cast in character. The second reason for this taking so long is a bit embarrassing. Recently my brother introduced me to Recettear An Item Shop's Tale which have been eating up most of my time. This piece of indie glory is incredibly addictive and I actually ended up forgetting about this story until my brother asked what was the deal with my sudden lack of writing. In any case, it's finally done. Here is the second request I got from Shiranai Atsune. After getting this finished I can continue on the LaS stories, at least until my pre-ordered copy of Tales of Xillia arrives and keeps me prisoner for who knows how long...
This is my answer to the Mahiro + Kuuko request from Shiranai Atsune. I hope it lives up to your expectations.
"Talking"
XXX
Most people would think it common sense that the morning during vacation should be relatively calm and silent. A time where those lucky enough to be freed from the needs of work or studying could relax and indulge in their hobbies. For sane people this normally meant things like not being fully awake at the break of dawn.
"What do you mean Kuune haven't given up!?"
Of course, the Yasaka house hadn't heard the word 'sanity' in a very long time. The thundering sound of Yasaka Mahiro's voice would have made any normal person cringe. Unfortunately it didn't seem to be anywhere near as effective against aliens. Kuuko, the female Cthugan sitting across the dinner table didn't even twitch and her expression stayed it's usual blank.
"What I mean is that nee-san sent me a message saying that she'd be coming to visit today. She wants to observe the two of us some more."
No more clarification was needed for any of the listeners sitting around the table. All of them remembering how Mahiro and Kuuko had pretended to be engaged in order to trick the extremely obsessive Cthugan. Mahiro swallowed a frustrated groan as he stole a glance to his right where he knew the first and strongest protest would originate from. Sitting beside him was the female Nyarlathotepan, Nyaruko. The silver-haired alien seemed perfectly calm at first glance, but her strangely expressive ahoge would be able to tell people more than a thousand words. Said lock of hair could be seen spinning so fast it looked like a drill.
And then, just as Mahiro worried that Nyaruko's ahoge would achieve liftoff, Kuuko put the final nail in the coffin.
"I think it would be best if Nyaruko and the others were to leave until nee-san's had her fill."
Nyaruko burst out of her chair and Mahiro could have sworn he saw her anger manifest as bright beams of light exploding out of her eyes and mouth. Of course that was only a trick of the light, to acknowledge anything else would be the same as waving goodbye to his slipping SAN points.
"Out of the question! Why should you be allowed to be alone with Mahiro-san and do this and that and even that?! I demand justice! Chaos is justi-tsundererailgun!"
And as something that had quickly become a perfectly natural routine for them, Nyaruko started blurting out a random shout of pain as the result of getting stabbed with Mahiro's weapon of choice; the FORK. The teenager with the questionable sanity felt his eyebrow develop a rather violent twitch. That girl had to be doing it on purpose... and who's a damn tsundere?!
"Uuuh, my beloved Mahiro-san is getting so violent. Such misfortu-uwaaaaa!"
Mahiro felt absolutely no remorse as he yet again stabbed Nyaruko with the terrifying existence known as the FORK. If he didn't stop her there then she would continue by making her arm turn into a dragon's head or something. He needed to protect his remaining sanity at all cost!
"Let's get back on track here. Mom, you were planning on going to the pool again with Hastur and Shantak-kun right?" Yasaka Yoriko nodded along with a pouting Hastur and downcast Shantak-kun. "Let's add to that plan then, can you take Nyaruko with you? As long as we let Kuune observe us alone for the day everything should go back to normal." Mahiro decided to keep the nervous 'I hope' out of the conversation.
XXX
"Shounen, I win again."
Mahiro barely heard Kuuko and the obnoxious taunts of her chosen fighting character. The rest of the residents had left a few hours ago and he was trying to find out exactly why they didn't have Kuune breathing down their necks yet. The last time she'd been around to see Mahiro and Kuuko spending time together he'd feared she would go complete yandere, and even then his mother, Nyaruko, Hastur and Shantak-kun had been around to play bodyguards. The two of them being completely alone without the still-mysteriously-absent Kuune going berserk with a chainsaw made him extremely nervous.
Mahiro got pulled away from his worrying thoughts by a soft blast of warm air against his face. Kuuko had apparently gotten annoyed by his silence and positioned herself so that their faces were only centimeters apart, her expression had changed from the usual blank look into a small frown that Mahiro could only describe as dangerously cute. He could feel his face heating up and turned away in order to try and hide the change in color.
"Shounen?" Kuuko's voice hadn't changed from it's usual soft, almost silent tone, but Mahiro still felt his face grow even brighter. And along with the embarrassment he felt a wave of panic, what would Kuune do after seeing them so close? He really didn't want to think about it, but strangely enough, even as Kuuko leaned even closer with a worried expression on her face, Kuune still hadn't made her presence known. Did she plan on luring them into thinking they were actually alone? Had she decided to observe them seriously? As he glanced at Kuuko and looked over the ruby-red eyes, flaming-crimson hair and soft pale skin he decided he didn't really care. If she wanted to see them interact then fine.
"Say Kuuko, should we make something to eat?" Apparently he'd said something unexpected because Kuuko's expression became surprised and Mahiro could have sworn he saw a soft flush on her cheeks.
"...Okay."
Minutes later they were in the kitchen, Kuuko keeping watch on the pan while Mahiro cut the ingredients. Mahiro was trying very hard not to think if the last time they'd been cooking together, high body temperature or not that had been embarrassing... and pleasant. "Ouch!"
"Shounen, did you cut yourself again?" He was getting a really strong feeling of deja vu here.
XXX
Several hours later after an embarrassingly pleasant disinfection and a strangely normal meal, Mahiro and Kuuko could be seen sitting on the couch with a pair of game controllers in front of them, though they weren't in use as Kuuko had fallen asleep on the boy's shoulder. Looking back on the day Mahiro knew that they hadn't really done anything that would make Kuune believe them to be engaged. They played games, made lunch, watched tv, watched a movie and played more games. It honestly wasn't all that different to how some other days went, with the exception of the day being more calm without Nyaruko's insane hijinks. Of course Kuuko had her own bouts of insanity but they were damn near normal when compared to the Crawling Chaos. As ordinary as the day had been though, he couldn't deny that he'd enjoyed it.
"Kuuko! What are you doing with Mahiro-san?!"
Both Mahiro and Kuuko burst out of the sofa, both of them blushing bright red. In the doorway stood Mahiro's mother, Hastur, Shantak-kun and a fuming Nyaruko.
"Now now Nyaruko-san, I'm sure she's just tired from today. So Hiro-kun, Kuuko-san, what did Kuune-san say?"
"Ah, well, you see mom she wasn-."
"Nee-san said she isn't finished." Huh? Mahiro turned and stared and Kuuko, they'd spent absolutely all day together so when did she have the chance to... oh.
"She will be back to observe my relationship with Shounen next week." At that point Kuuko glanced at Mahiro, who knew for sure that this time he wasn't imagining the soft blush, or that radiant smile. "We will need to plan what to do Shounen. We've shown how we interact at home, so next let's go on a date in the city."
Mahiro smiled, guess that means they were officially dating.
