Reito stands before Rosalia Palace with Elisa, Sui, and Bingbing after an uneventful flight into the country. Jason, Mahiru, Maria, and Akane remain at the airport terminal in a private waiting room.
"Aw, geez, I wish we could be there to see the palace!" Mahiru whined on a screen as she is talking with Reito after they had called in to state their arrival.
"There would have been too big a crowd," Reito answered. "But I think that the rest of you will be able to come after I get things settled with the Duchess."
"Ah, Reito, before you go in," Jason said. "Between you having to use whatever it is you need to use in order to create that vaccine and most females having since become more sexual with us remaining men, that Duchess might want to have sex with you in exchange for her cooperation."
"B-But if I just explain the situation to her, I am sure that-" Reito answered with humorous unease.
"Damn it, Reito! You're quibble over chastity when humanity's future's at stake?!" Jason interjected peevishly.
Jason immediately stops as he holds up a hand while closing his eyes and lowering his head as he takes a deep breath then exhales to calm himself. The others around Jason regard him with shock as they had not expected such an outburst from him. He takes another deep breath and looks up at Reito.
"The fact that nobody met us when we got off that plane means Duchess Anastasia must be a reasonable girl," Jason surmised. "Meaning that she is allowing you the benefit of the doubt by letting you come to her instead. But you can be as certain as tomorrow will follow today that she is going to want something from you, and that is when you will see the limit of her reasonability if you should refuse her. Now I won't elaborate on what form her displeasure might take, but it will mean hope for humanity getting flushed down the toilet. So get your priorities straight; get into that palace; and do whatever the hell that Duchess Anastasia tells you to do in order to secure her cooperation."
There is a moment of silence.
"Jeeson-kun is right, Reito-kun," Akane sighed in a somber tone. "Up until now we have all gone along with your sense of honor, but now the opportunity to create a viable vaccine is within our grasp and we may never get another opportunity such as this."
"Yeah, well, I am still hoping it will not have to come to that," Reito said firmly. "We will be going in. Over and out."
The screen blanks out and the women look at Jason.
"It looks like you told him, Jeeson-kun," Akane said.
"It needed to be said," Jason said. "His concerns for his own chastity are ridiculous."
"Then what about your chastity?" Akane mused.
"Hey, I'm not the one tryin' to create a vaccine," Jason answered. "Otherwise, I would accept the fact that I might have to mate with that Duchess if that were the case."
"You say that, but what if that Duchess takes one look at you and asks you to mate with her instead?" Akane asked hypothetically.
Jason sighs in thought. "I don't see why she would want to."
"Well, you are currently the only White man alive and active," Akane pointed out. "That alone should be reason enough for her to want to mate with you. And you being tall, lean, blonde, and easy on the eyes might tempt her even more."
Jason is silent for a moment then scratches the back of his head. "You have a point there."
An hour later a call comes in and they answer it. This time it is Elisa.
"Hey there, Elisa-chan," Mahiru said. "Is Rei-nii all right?"
"Yes, Reito is all right," Elisa answered. "I just wanted to call and say that I am on my way over there to pick you all up and return to the palace with you."
"So did that Duchess want to mate with Reito-kun?" Akane asked.
"She is Princess now," Elisa corrected. "Princess Anastasia. She ascended to that title upon her marriage."
"Marriage?!" Jason exclaimed.
"Yes, to Reito."
"Ehhhhh?!" The Japanese exclaimed in one voice, while Jason exclaimed, what.
"M-M-Married?!" Maria stammered. "He's married to the Duchess, I mean Princess?!"
"Yes, that is what I said," Elisa emphasized. "Princess Anastasia announced their wedding the moment after he was introduced to her and they have since completed their wedding ceremony."
"Holy shit! Have they consummated the marriage yet?!" Jason exclaimed.
"Not that I know of," Elisa answered. "But I am on my way over to pick you all up. See you all soon."
The screen goes out.
"I now have a sister-in-law who is royality," Mahiru sighed.
"I knew it!" Jason stated intently with a grin of satisfaction. "I knew he would have to fulfill some sort of obligation to this Anastasia! Not exactly what I was expecting, but it is still an obligation that will eventually lead to Reito having to mate with her. Or maybe he already has or currently is."
"I wonder how his relations with other women are going to figure into this," Akane pondered.
"Yeah," Jason agreed. "Five males getting married no longer seems feasible."
"A-A-At least not for another hundred years maybe," Maria added.
The palace of Rosalia is a large elegant palace as the group look upon it.
"Wow, it looks like something out of a fairy tale!" Mahiru squealed.
"Pretty snazzy place!" Jason said with astoundment.
"Yeah," Akane agreed.
"Come on," Elisa said.
Elisa leads Jason, Akane, Mahiru, and Maria up to the palace where an aide awaits them.
"Hello to the rest of you. I am Origa and I will lead you to her Majesty, Princess Anastasia and her Prince Consort, Reito Mizuhara."
The group are led into the palace, down a grand hallway and into the throne room where upon a dias in front of the throne are Reito dressed in a white tuxedo and the pretty sixteen-year-old blonde-haired blue-eyed Princess Anastasia dressed in an elegant white dress with diamond sparkles adorning it.
The group stop at the foot of the dias and introductions are made.
"Ooh, the other immune male!" Anastasia crooned after being introduced to Jason. "If it were not for Reito-dono, I would have married you instead!"
"Looks like you lucked out there, Jeeson-kun," Akane teased.
"Um, Princess Anastasia," Jason asked Anastasia.
"Yes, Jason Welsh."
"How is marriage going to work in this brave new world? What with there being only five males out of hundreds of millions of females?"
"Oh that is easy," Anastasia answered cheerfully. "I will accept the ladies in Reito's life as his concubines!"
"Oh of course, an open marriage," Jason noted as if he should have understood that from the beginning.
"Ooh, mistress! Origa is moved by your generosity!" The aide who led them wept while wiping her eyes with a hankerchief.
Jason gives that Origa woman a whimsical look, wondering if she has the hots for Reito too?
"Now then," Anastasia said. "I will show you Rosalia's cutting edge medical research facilities."
The group are taken to one such place where they are prepped by having to strip down and get showered in an antiseptic spray. Then dress in scrubs and wear a labcoat and slippers in order to maintain a relatively sterile environment.
Anastasia shows them the various technology that Reito will need if he is to create the vaccine, with Maria expressing her delight like a child on Christmas morning who gets the presents they had hoped for.
"It's a pity that Dr. Ragini Shin is not here to help us," Anastasia said.
"D-D-Dr. Ragini Shin?!" Maria gasped, showing that she understands the name.
"Who's she?" Jason said.
"O-O-Only the foremost expert on viruses!" Maria stated. "She is considered a genius in that field!"
"She worked at this facility," Anastasia said. "During the Outbreak, she tried to create a vaccine against the MK Virus and used it on her husband. But it didn't work and he died. She blamed herself and fled into the mountains."
"I have to try and convince her to help me because I am going to need all of the help I can get," Reito said. "Where is she exactly?"
"She is up in the nearby moutains," Anastasia answered. "But if you are serious in recruiting Dr. Shin, Origa can drive you up there since she knows where Dr. Shin's cabin is located."
"I am," Reito stated. "I want to go and see this Dr. Shin and try to convince her to help me create a vaccine against the MK Virus."
"Very well," Anastasia said. "I'll take the rest back to the palace while you go and see Dr. Shin."
As it was when they were going to enter the facility so it was when they were going to exit in that they had to strip down and shower in that antiseptic spray. Once outside, Reito takes Origa, Maria, and Sui with him.
"Wish me luck," Reito said to the rest before he gets into a car.
"Good luck, Reito," Elisa said.
Reito gets in and the others watch as the car drives away.
"Princess Anastasia, do you think this Dr. Shin will help Reito?" Jason asked.
"I truly don't know," she answered. "But I get the feeling that my husband can achieve the impossible since he made it this far when he should not have been able to make it out of Japan in the first place."
The group head back to the palace via shuttle bus and await Reito's return, or at least his call.
That time finally arrives a couple of hours later when Elisa gets a call from Reito while he is on his way back to the palace.
"We're you able to convince Dr. Shin to help?" Elisa asked.
"No," Reito answered dourly. "She's too scared that I might die and does not what the death of another male on her head."
"Oh, that's too bad," Elisa said with a lose of hope. "I was hoping that she would agree."
"We are on our own with this," Reito said.
Once back at the palace, the group have dinner in a fancy dining room. They dine on steak with leeks, mushrooms, and truffle. To drink there is red wine, though for Mahiru and Sui there is grape juice. For dessert, there is a crossiant on a small plate near their main course.
"You are awfully quiet about your conversation with Dr. Shin, Reito," Elisa said.
"Yeah, is something on your mind?" Akane asked.
"Ah, it is complicated," Reito answered.
"Could it be that Dr. Shin told you that in order to create the vaccine you are going to have to have sex with one of us women?" Bingbing deduced.
This causes everyone around the table to regard Reito with shock.
"Er, yeah," Reito admitted. "It goes like this."
Reito explains what Dr. Shin had told him about the need for his male hormones, AKA testosterone, to simulate his immune system into reacting to the MK Virus in order to create that vaccine.
"Then the question is," Jason began, "which girl are you going to mate with? Although Mahiru and Sui are the exceptions since one is your sister and the other is still a little girl."
"Who else is up for mating with Reito?" Bingbing asked around the table.
"I must excuse myself," Elisa said as she gets up from the table, then leaves the room.
Reito gets up and follows after her.
"What was that all about?" Jason pondered.
"I think we will find out soon," Bingbing said.
The group finish their supper in time for Reito's return.
"Elisa will not be taking part," Reito announced. "Or more accurately, she is not going to wait for me to reply. So she has opened the field up to those who are willing."
"There is Anastasia since you two are now husband and wife," Jason pointed out.
"But I am also allowing his concubines to partake as well," Anastasia said.
"That leaves Bingbing, Akane, and Maria for Reito to mate with," Jason noted.
"What about me?" Sui spoke up indignantly. "I could help Reito."
The group all give her bewildered looks.
"Um, what does one do again when mating?" Sui asked innocently.
"You're still too small for that," Jason said pointedly.
"So it is settled then," Akane announced. "The chosen candidates have been established as five. So us five girls will each take our turn with Reito by going on a date with him."