Chapter 7: Game Night Against My Nemesis!

Tomoki sat in bed that night with Ikaros' feather in his hand.

"Why does she keep doing this?" he asked. All he wanted was that damn peace and quiet he'd been missing, and for everyone to be happy. The feather in his hand glowed faintly and each touch with his fingers sent a wave of slightly brighter light coursing through it. He laid back and stared at the ceiling. The blue light of the night sky drifted in from his window. He closed his eyes, small tears welling up in them.

The next morning, Tomoki had to make breakfast due to Ikaros' absence. Other than that the morning went just as it usually did.

"Hey Tomoki, why did Ikaros leave?" Astraea asked with a blank look. Nymph smacked the back of her head.

"Jeez Delta, I know you're dumb but I would have thought that you had some common sense!" she yelled. Tomoki set down his spoon and started to head back to his room until he heard a knock at the door. He raised his head and stared for a moment.

"Hasn't Daedalus already had your weekly report, Chaos?" he asked. She nodded in confirmation. He slowly advanced toward the door and took a defensive stance before swinging it open. What was on the other side surprised him more than anything ever had before.

"Where's Alpha? I need to talk to her," Hera said with a disgusted look. Tomoki looked struck with fear and couldn't move. Nymph groaned and went up to the door.

"She's not around," Nymph answered. Hera looked none too pleased at this answer.

"Ugh, and when will she be back?" She tapped her foot and crossed her arms.

"In about a week," Nymph replied with an eye roll. Hera sighed and turned around.

"Which one of you turned Alpha from being the weapon she was to what she is now?" Everyone immediately pointed to Tomoki. He finally snapped out of his freeze just to take a new stance, one of full fear.

"Gee, thanks for protecting me!" he complained. Nymph shrugged. Hera advanced toward Tomoki and got right in his face.

"There's obviously something about you that is special, because any old Joe wouldn't be able to convert Uranus Queen," she whispered. She got up and announced, "I will be staying here in Alpha's absence and I will be expecting to learn what caused her conversion!" Tomoki fell over and Nymph started to push her out.

"No way in hell are we letting you stay here, Omicron!" she yelled. Astraea got up to help her.

"Yeah, there's enough angeloids in this place as it is!" Astraea aided.

"Hey, hey, hey, can I say something?" Hera exclaimed. The two angeloids stopped their attack and looked at her.

"Can I at least stay the night? I have nowhere to go...the motel I was staying at kicked me out," she said, looking down.

Tomoki sat up and looked at Hera. Nymph and Astraea looked at Tomoki, asking for a verdict with their eyes. Hera stared into his eyes with solemnity. He likened her look to that of the dogs and cats from those adoption center commercials. He closed his eyes decisively.

"Fine, you can stay tonight. But in the morning I want you to go, okay?" he explained. She ran inside and hugged Tomoki, but quickly retracted.

"Don't take that like I've made a decision about the planet or anything yet," she said pseudo-angrily. Tomoki gave a small smile and restarted his journey back to his room. Hera followed him.

Tomoki laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. After a few minutes he closed his eyes and thought to himself. He felt a presence over him and opened his eyes. He recoiled back; Hera was right above him.

"What the hell?!" he yelled. Hera looked confused.

"Why were you closing your eyes?" she asked him.

"Because, I was thinking."

"Oh. What were you thinking about?" Tomoki looked down and closed his eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it," he answered. Hera still looked confused but she dropped the subject.

"I need to ask you something," she asked.

"What's that?"

"How?"

"How what?"

"How did you make Alpha change everything she ever knew and join your side?"

"Oh. I don't really know. All I told her was that I want her to do what she wanted to do, and she kinda took it to heart," he explained.

"That's it? You're sure?" she pressed.

"Yeah...that's it..." he said distrustingly. Hera thanked him for sheltering her and answering her question and left. Tomoki sat there thinking about what she had said.

That night, Chaos decided that she wanted to play a board game.

"Okay, I guess that'd be cool. Pick one out," Tomoki told her. She got excited and jumped over to the cabinet and immediately pulled out Monopoly. Hera stared at Chaos.

"What do you do in this...'monopoly'?" Hera asked. Chaos explained the game to her excitedly. She gave a look of understanding and approval. They set the board up in the living room and divided the money. Astraea was the thimble, but she thought it was a trash can and refused to accept any explanation that said otherwise. Nymph selected the dog, saying that she wanted to be the cutest one, since she was the cutest of them. Chaos was the battleship, simply saying that she wanted to remember her past for a bit. Hera was the hat because she just grabbed a piece. Tomoki followed her logic and took the shoe.

Chaos started the game and purchased Oriental Ave. The game went on normally until Hera landed on a property that was owned by Astraea.

"Alright, Hera, pay up!" Astraea said cheerily.

"Excuse me? What right do you have to charge me?" she rebuked.

"Um...Hera...that's how the game works. She owns the property, so when you land on it you have to pay 'rent'," Tomoki explained. Hera looked at him very confused.

"But I'm not staying for any sort of extended period of time so why do I have to pay rent?" she asked.

"That's the rules of the game, you land on a property and you pay them a set number of dollars for that specific property," Tomoki said.

"But I'm not renting the damn property!" Hera yelled, slamming her fist on the table.

"It's just how you play the game! Forget that I said rent, okay? How about 'fee'? Does that work better?" Tomoki yelled at her. It was silent for a few moments until Hera spoke up again, quietly.

"Yes Tomoki, that works..." The game continued and in the end Astraea emerged victorious. She gloated for about an hour until everyone retired to their rooms except for Hera and Tomoki.

"I'm sorry for how I acted earlier," Hera apologized. Tomoki looked at her and smiled.

"That's alright! It happens to everyone at some point. The important thing is, did you have fun?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did. I want to thank you again for housing me and allowing me to partake in this game," she told him.

"Of course. You needed help and I want to help you," he said. Hera smiled and hugged him.

"Thank you."

The two returned to Tomoki's room and he made himself comfortable in his bed.

"So do you know what sleep is?" Tomoki asked Hera.

"Yeah, I do and I have a sleep function, a new feature of my class of angeloid."

"Oh, cool. Well then, have a good night!" Tomoki said before rolling over and closing his eyes.

"But I can't right now," she said at a volume so low a human can't hear it. She turned away and started her transmission.

"So that's all he would say?" Minos asked her.

"Unfortunately. He's not on to me at all if I'm not mistaken," she said. Minos smiled and shook his head.

"Not based on what I've seen," he said, cutting the connection. Hera sat there dumbfounded and scared. She received a number into her head, which quickly turned to a countdown and a light turned on on her collar. She gasped and gripped her collar.

She had 12 hours.

I'm so sorry. I have no excuse on why this took so long to update but I hope this was good. Have fun reading the rest of this story! Also, shoutout to AlexanderMugetsu for reminding me to write this. If it wasn't for them, this probably would've been out in like July. Sorry bout that. I'll try and get out chapter 8 sooner than that.

Next time: Happy Christmas to You and Merry Birthday!