The next morning you don't even need to make up an excuse to convince your mother to call out sick for you at school. Your fatigue from the late night is so obvious that she pushes you back to bed almost immediately and you have to fight to get her to go to work instead of staying home to take care of you.

But eventually, she leaves and you're able to crawl out of bed. A quick shower and bite to eat and you're out the door, hitting the streets, only stopping to grab a can of coffee from a vending machine as you head into town.

The information you have for hunting down Lala is limited. You know she crashes her ship on Earth…sometime. You don't know exactly when. You know when she'll teleport into Rito's bathroom, between 8:30pm and 9:00pm, which means that your deadline before heading to Rito's place is 8pm. But she could arrive at any point between now, approximately 8:15am, and then.

The anime showed her ship crashing in front of the school sometime before class let out. While the manga did not have her ship appear there, you are willing to bet the approximate timing is the same, and maybe even the approximate location. Which narrows down the time and place to somewhere around the school before the end of the school day.

Still a large window, but one you can work with. You head in the general direction of your school, but your eyes are aimed upward. It doesn't take too long for you to find a suitable building, one significantly taller than the others around it and with roof access.

Once you get to the roof you lay down on the ground and stare up at the sky. You're guessing that Lala doesn't show up until the afternoon, so there's no point in wandering around when she isn't even on the planet yet. But if she's coming down in a crashing spaceship, then there's a good chance you'll be able to spot the moment she does if you pay attention to the skies.

Which is the entirety of your plan. Relax here and watch the sky. You set an alarm for 1pm, at which point you'll try wandering the streets until 8pm. Until then, your main focus will be on the sky, and not falling asleep.

The hours pass slowly. You keep your mind occupied by running through scenarios in your head, of different circumstances the two of you might meet in and conversations you might have. It's difficult to focus both on that and keeping an eye on the sky, but without the mental stimulation, you were sure you would fall asleep.

Thankfully, your strategy works, and you notice it immediately when something new appears in the sky above you. You scramble to your feet in excitement, like the handful of extra feet will help you see it better, and focus.

Normally you wouldn't be able to tell what it was. Aliens hadn't gone undetected for this long for no reason. Even as you squint at it, you can barely make out a faint blur roughly in the shape of a spaceship. Normally that would make it impossible to spot in the sky.

The smoke it was trailing made it a lot easier though.

If it weren't for the fact that you knew that Lala was perfectly fine when she arrived, you'd be pretty worried for her wellbeing. Assuming that this was Lala's ship. But what were the chances of a different alien crash landing on Earth today?

You suppress the thought in an attempt to not invoke Murphy's Law, and instead focus on the quickly descending ship, tracking its progress. It looks like it's coming straight for you at first, though as it gets closer it slows down, and it becomes evident that its trajectory is just a little off. You also note a few other things. First, it's slowing down. Second, the amount of smoke coming out of it is decreasing at a rapid pace. And third, there is absolutely no sound coming from it, even when it passes just a few thousand feet away from you, landing in a nearby park.

As you rush down the stairs and run for the park where it landed, you come to the conclusion that she must have gotten it under control, or the smoke had nothing to do with any of the systems required to actually land the ship. She hadn't been in as much danger as you first assumed.

You're gasping for breath by the time you reach the park despite it only being a few blocks away. You take a moment to catch your breath at the entrance, your head on a swivel and looking for any sign of a strangely dressed pink-haired girl. But there's no one around. The park and surrounding area are completely empty of people.

You glance at the time. It's been about eight minutes since the ship landed somewhere here. Long enough that she could have left, but short enough that there's a decent chance she's still nearby. You quickly start walking through the park, looking for the ship or for her.

You find it quickly. There are only so many places a ship of that size can land without crushing something after all. Without any clearings or large areas of flat ground, that leaves pretty much just the small pond in the center of the park.

The spaceship, no longer smoking, is sitting in the pond at an awkward angle, like it didn't land correctly. But it doesn't look damaged beyond some scorch marks on the hull.

"Hello?" You call out, yelling. The pond isn't very big, but there are still about a dozen feet between you and the spaceship, and you're trying to make sure you're heard by someone who might be inside.

"Hello!" a voice calls back from right behind you.

You're not ashamed to admit that you jump in surprise and twirl around, but the momentary jolt of fear fades immediately when you lay your eyes on her.

Long and luscious pink hair drapes behind her, framing her cute face, and wearing a cheerful expression. Her body was also amazing, perfectly curvy and not a single proportion left to the imagination thanks to its skin-tight nature. You can feel your heart hammering in your chest with excitement just from looking at her.

But you force those emotions down. "Is that your ship?" you ask her, slipping into the role of a concerned citizen. "I saw it crash. Are you alright? Was there anyone else on board?"

"Nope, just me!" she responds, still cheery. "And I'm fine, it was barely a crash at all."

You put a hand over your chest and breathe a sigh of relief. "Oh good. I was worried when I saw how much smoke there was. I do know a local doctor who can give you a check-up though. Smoke inhalation can be pretty bad."

"There is no need for that, Lala-sama's vitals are perfectly fine," a disembodied voice says, though you recognize it immediately. Your eyes lock on to her hat, which has a pair of swirly eyes on it. That would be Peke, Lala's all-costume robot, who controls her clothes. She also monitors Lala's vitals.

"Besides, a human doctor would be of no help for Lala-sama," Peke continues.

"Oh, she's not a human doctor, she's an alien one," you casually drop. "Sorry, let me introduce myself. My name is Saitou Akihiko, I'm half-human and half-Charmian. Welcome to Earth!" You flash Lala a smile and hold out your hand for a handshake.

Lala's face lights up and she takes your hand in both of her, holding it up as she steps closer to you. "Really? You're half-Charmian? Me too!"

"Really?" you reply in faux surprise and excitement. You were aiming for that reaction after all. "Hey, what are Charmians like? I never really knew my Charmian parent, so I never got a chance to learn much about them."

"Well Charmians are from the planet Charmia, but there are almost none of them left these days," Lala starts explaining, rattling off information. "Charmia was the center point of the Great Galactic War and it suffered pretty heavily during the fighting. Most Charmians were scattered across the galaxy-"

"Lala-sama, as happy as I am for you to have found a friend, we do not have time for a history lesson right now," Peke interrupts Lala. "We should get away from your ship if you don't want to be found."

"Oh, that's right!" Lala said, still cheerful. "Sorry Saitou-san, I guess I'll have to explain some other time. I'm being chased right now and need to keep moving."

There's no way in hell you're letting this chance pass you by. "If you want, you can hide at my place. It's not too far from here and we can keep talking. Please? I've always wondered about my alien heritage, and I would love to hear more about the galaxy."

Lala lets go of your hand and puts a finger to her chin as she thinks. "Hmm…I guess that would be fine, at least for now."

You show a genuine smile. "Great! Now we just need to get there without drawing attention. If you want, I can run to a nearby shop and buy you some clothes that won't stand out."

"No need, I have Peke!" Lala says proudly. "Just show her a normal outfit and she'll take care of it!"

"Would a picture work?" you ask as you pull out your phone, browsing the web for a suitable outfit.

"Yes, that will work just fine, Saitou-san," Peke responds directly. You choose the first simple but cute outfit you find and show it to Peke. Cuter outfits can come later. For now, a simple shirt and skirt will do. After a moment, Lala's outfit changes to match what you showed Peke. The process is quick, only offering the barest hint of a flash of skin, not long enough for you to grasp any details.

"Wow, that's amazing," you compliment her as she looks down at herself, checking out the new outfit. She holds her arm out and does a little twirl, the skirt rising up just a little bit. You spot her tail snaking out from under it as well.

"Peke really is the best," Lala agrees. Then she looks up at you. "Does it look good though?"

"You look very good in those clothes, yes," you answer with a nod. "Oh, and yes, they won't stand out either. Even if someone notices your tail, they'll just write it off as an accessory or something."

She beams at you. "Great! Let's get going then." She turns to the ship in the water. "Ship, activate cloaking field!"

You turn to look as the ship just…disappears. One second it's there, and the next second it's gone like it was just an illusion. The water doesn't ripple, and it doesn't look like there's anything in it. You can't help but be impressed by how effective the technology is.

But you put that aside for now and turn back to Lala. "Come on, my house is this way. We can talk a bit while we walk."

The two of you leave the park and start heading for your place. While you do, you take a moment to collect yourself. You've been doing well so far, but it's been tenuous. Your excitement at having Lala here in front of you is throwing you off balance. You keep sneaking glances at her, part of you still not believing that this is finally happening. You expected to spend all evening looking for her, but Fate smiled at you and you found her immediately.

"So, I probably should have asked before I offered my home as a hideout, but who exactly is chasing you?" you ask once you've reigned in your excitement. You weren't going to risk ruining everything after coming this far.

"Ha ha, well… they're my bodyguards actually," she starts, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. "Papa wants to marry me off, but all my suitors are gross, so I ran away from home so I wouldn't have to keep meeting with them."

You hadn't been sure if she was actually going to admit the true reason she was running. Then again, it isn't like she hid it in canon, it was just a misunderstanding. And Lala wasn't exactly the lying type.

"In that case, you can hide out with me for as long as you like," you say, puffing up your chest slightly. "I believe in only marrying for love, and I'll do all that I can to help you."

You're intentionally being a little over the top, giving off a playful vibe, but Lala doesn't seem to notice. Instead, she just gives you another smile, her happiness clear on her face. "Thanks! I really appreciate it!"

Your heart thumps in your chest. Lala really is the best first girl you could have gone after. And you can't wait to make her yours.

The rest of the walk home is filled with Lala explaining galactic history to you, with a focus on Charmians.

Exactly how the Great Galactic War started is something that has been lost to time, as it started a couple thousand years ago. But it is known that it started on Charmia, and many historians agreed that it was most likely a case of someone powerful wanting a Charmian as their own, and things spiraled off from there, escalating to spread across the entire galaxy.

The war wasn't always full tilt going on, there were periods when the fighting was restricted to just some scuffles. But Charmia was ruined early in the war, forcing most Charmians to flee. Life was pretty difficult for them in the galaxy, where they struggled to defend themselves from all the other races that all found them beautiful beyond belief and wanted to claim them.

Many Charmians were captured and sold as slaves to wealthy businessmen and nobles across the galaxy, serving as pleasure slaves or trophy pieces. Owning a Charmian was a measure of status in some circles.

Unfortunately, all of this led to the slow extinction of the Charmian race. Lala is only aware of one living full-blooded Charmian- her own mother. Though she does tell you that her mother is working on trying to restore Charmia and the Charmian race now that the war is over, but she doesn't know the details of how that is going.

By the time she finishes telling you everything, the two of you have arrived at your house and she's sitting on your couch, drinking the tea you prepared for her.

"Wow," you say, soaking in all the new information. Neither the manga nor the anime had gone into such detail about things. Why would it? It was pure fanservice, and a history lesson about a war on that scale and the near-eradication of an entire race would have just brought down the mood.

"I had no idea my father faced something like that," you continue. "I mean, my mother mentioned he had run away from slavers, but to think things were that bad." You shake your head. "Well, I suppose that's in the past. I'm glad to hear someone is working on fixing things though."

"Yep! Mama is really great," Lala agrees cheerfully. "I'm sure she'd love to meet you too, though she's very busy, so it might take a while…"

"Also you're running away from home right now," you remind her, letting a faint tone of amusement enter your voice. "Kind of hard to introduce me to your parents if you're running away from them."

She laughs. "That too." She takes a moment to stretch, lifting her arms above her head and arching her back. You catch yourself staring at the way her movements emphasize her chest, but she doesn't seem to notice. Instead, she turns to you again. "Could I borrow your bath?"

You're a little caught off guard by the seemingly random question, but you recover quickly. "Absolutely. Here, let me show you where it is and how to use it."

You lead her to the bathroom and quickly explain how to use it and where the soaps are, and you also run the water for the bath to fill it up. And you're not at all surprised when, as soon as you finish your explanation, she removes the hair-clip form of Peke from her head, causing all of her clothes to disappear and giving you your first good look at her nude body.

Her original outfit hugged her curves tightly, and you had seen drawings of her naked dozens of times when you read the manga. But seeing her naked body in person was an entirely different story. You could feel your dick already hardening in your pants.

You tear your eyes away when Lala turns around, entering the bath, not having noticed your stares. You're thankful for that. Lala doesn't really care about others seeing her naked, but she does distinguish between being naked around people she knows and between those who stare at her naked body lecherously, and she does not like the latter.

Peke transforms into her default doll-like form. "Then, Lala-sama, I shall rest while you bathe." She floats over to the sink's countertop and settles down for a nap.

"Okay, Peke!" Lala replies, looking over her shoulder. Then her eyes meet yours. "Do you want to join me?"

This time you truly are caught off guard. It takes you a few precious moments to put your brain back into working order, causing Lala to tilt her head at you in confusion.

You regain your composure quickly though, adapting to this new scenario and opportunity. "I'd love to," you reply casually, smiling at her. You start shedding your clothes, acting as uncaring about it as she was.

"In fact, as my guest, please allow me to wash your back," you ask her as you pull your last piece of clothing off, your underwear. She doesn't spare you a second glance though, already sitting on the stool in front of the shower head.

"Sure! Can I wash yours too?" she replies in high spirits.

"I would be honored," you say, a grin growing on your face as a plan hatches. Really, with Lala naked in front of you, inviting you into the bath, there's only so far you can hold back. You still have to hold back some, because rushing will ruin things. But that doesn't mean you can't do anything.

So, as you kneel behind Lala, who has just finished rinsing herself off using the shower head, you ignore the sponge and apply some soap directly to your hands before pressing them against her back and starting to work the soap in.

"Ah-?!" she lets out a small cry of pleasure and surprise at your sudden touch.

You pause, putting on an innocent face as she turns to look at you over her shoulder. "Is something wrong?" you ask.

"N-no, I was just surprised," she says, confusion clear in her voice. She turns back to the front. "Sorry, you can keep going."

Once she turns around, you allow yourself a small grin and continue 'washing' her back. She's tense at first, her back arched as she squirms under your touch. But as you continue to rub soap into her back, digging your fingers into her soft and smooth flesh and relishing the sensation, she starts to relax, leaning into your touch.

Sticky Fingers is a perk you purchased from the Company as part of your starting build. It's classified as a Lure, and unlike Talents, it's not something you purchased with the intent of training. No, Lures give you an ability to help you seduce girls to get a love confession out of them. And Sticky Fingers makes you supernaturally good at sex.

Or anything sexual, really. The perk promised to give you knowledge of "all the points that make a waifu melt" and the ability to "play her like a piano". And that extends to such things as giving her a back massage under the guise of washing her back.

She's completely forgotten about washing her front and is focused entirely on your touch. Her breathing grows heavy as you continue your work, instinct guiding you to her most sensitive spots and how best to manipulate them. She lets out a small moan each time you do, pushing the limits of your restraint.

But you hold back, carefully maintaining deniability by only touching her back. You don't try to 'accidentally' feel her boobs, you don't go too low on her back, and you avoid her tail, which is basically an erogenous zone for her. You focus entirely on her back.

Sticky Fingers also makes it easy for you to track her pleasure. More specifically, it tells you how close she is to cumming, which is something you want to avoid. Speaking truthfully, you'd love to make her cum, right here and right now, but it's too early for that.

So instead you stop, leaving her at what is probably roughly 85% of the way to a climax. More than enough to leave her eager for more.

"There you go, all washed up," you say, voice innocent and cheerful. "Just need a quick rinse…" you reach past her and grab the shower head, ignoring the way she's quietly sitting there, shoulders heaving as she breathes heavily.

You rinse her off slowly, giving her plenty of time to recover. Lala is the innocent type, not knowing much about sex. You're almost certain that she hasn't so much as ever masturbated before, or is even familiar with the concept of sexual pleasure. An experience like this would certainly be a new one for her.

Though you are a bit worried about how she'll react when she recovers. This move was a bit of a gamble, and there's no telling-

"That was amazing!" Lala says suddenly, turning around to look at you with wonder in her eyes. "I've never had my back washed in such a great way before!"

You let yourself smile. Of course, you should have known better. This is the ever-positive Lala we're talking about. "I'm glad you liked it," you genuinely tell her. "I wanted to give you some extra service, so I put a lot of effort into it."

"Well then it's my turn to return the favor!" she replies excitedly. She stands up, coincidentally putting her crotch right in front of your face. You get a quick close-up of her pussy, noting the faint tufts of pink hair above a hooded clit.

And then it's gone as she steps behind you and pushes you onto the stool she was just sitting on. You're still holding the image of her pussy in your mind, attempting to memorize it, when your mind goes blank. You feel two hard nubs immediately followed by two larger soft mounds press against your back. You easily recognize the sensation, even as it moves up and down. This is unmistakably the feeling of Lala's boobs pressed against your back.

"Lala?" you ask, allowing some confusion to enter your voice.

"Hmm? Oh, I didn't think I could do the same thing you did, so I decided to wash your back like this! It feels good, right?"

Her innocent lewdness is only turning you on more. "It feels great, I appreciate it," you say in a calm and grateful voice. The only hint of your arousal that has been building up since she invited you into the bath is your raging boner, which is harder than you've ever felt it become.

You close your eyes, and for just a short moment, you let yourself relax. You stop plotting, stop training, stop preparing, stop thinking. You just sit back and focus on the sensation of Lala's soapy breasts massaging your back. All the work you've done for the past week, all the plotting you've done, the entire lifetime of yearning for an impossible dream; it was all for this moment.

You lose track of how long that moment of bliss lasts, but it's definitely much too soon when Lala pulls herself off your back. "There! That should be nice and clean."

You start rinsing off, your mind slowly booting back up as you pull yourself back to reality. "Thank you very much, Lala," you say, not having to fake the gratitude in your voice. "Your method might have been different, but I think I can also say that was the best back washing I've ever experienced."

She giggles. "I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun."

You check the bath and find that it's finished filling, so you turn off the water and climb in. Lala climbs in on the opposite side, facing you. It's not the biggest bath, so your legs intertwine. You can feel her smooth skin against your own legs.

You can also see her entire body through the water now, though you try not to leer. It's too early for that. She doesn't seem interested in checking you out either, even though your boner is very easy to see. There's no way she missed it, though she doesn't seem to be paying it any special attention.

"So, what do you think your plans are going to be?" you ask her, making conversation to keep yourself from staring or trying to push things further. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you need, of course."

"Hmm. I'm not sure," Lala replies after thinking about it for a moment. "I know I can't just run away forever, but I don't want to be married off to some creep either." She shrugs, sending small waves through the bath. "What do you think I should do?"

Your mind whirs as you carefully think over what advice to give Lala. You can't afford to carelessly suggest something that might come around to bite you in the ass later. You have to make sure that, whatever you suggest, assuming she agrees with it, will net you the best results.

A few different possibilities flicker through your mind, such as suggesting she stays here for as long as she wants, or suggesting they pretend to get engaged to get Gid off her back. Both would give you plenty of time to get an actual love confession out of her. But you dismiss both of them. They both carry too much risk. You would easily get the love confession, but it would worsen your relationship with Lala's family and protectors.

Lala is your main priority, but not only do you need to get her sisters, but you need to somehow steal Gid's wife, Sephie, as well. You don't have a plan for how to do the latter; you need Lala secured and more information before you can really even start figuring it out, but both of those are much easier to do the more Gid and her family like you.

And if you want them to like you, there's really only one option.

"The way I see it, based on what you've told me, is that this isn't an issue that will go away just by ignoring it," you start. "So while it's not the easiest option, I think the best option is to actually sit down and talk with him. You need to make him understand that you have your own feelings and desires, and he can't just force you to do something so major without any consideration for those feelings."

"I tried, but Papa is stubborn," Lala says with a pout. "He wouldn't listen to me at all, and Mama already agreed to let him handle it."

"Now that you've run away and shown how upset you are by this, he'll probably be angry, but he'll be worried as well, and he might be more likely to listen. And, if you'd like, I'd be willing to be there with you when you talk to him, both as moral support and to help convince him. I'm pretty good with words after all." You flash her a smile.

"Really?" she asks, perking up. "You'd be willing to do that?"

"Absolutely," you reply. "We may have only just met, but I already consider you a friend, and whatever you need, I'm willing to help."

You're ready for the sweet smile of appreciation she sends you. But you're not ready for her when she excitedly lunges forward, splashing the bath water and wrapping you up in a hug.

"I'm so glad you think of me as a friend!" she exclaims as you relish the feeling of Lala's wet breasts pressing against your chest. You're also grateful for the fact that her angle means it's only her breasts and arms touching you. If she was pressed more evenly against you, your raging hard-on would be trapped between the two of you, and you aren't sure you could take that kind of stimulation right now without something happening.

So you wrap your arms around her as well, patting her on the back as you return the hug. "Of course, Lala," you say. "Whatever you need. Moral support, a place to stay, someone to talk to, whatever. I'll be there."

She pulls back from you and you sadly let her go as she settles back into her sitting position. She has a happy smile on her face though. "I'll call him tomorrow then," she decides. "He'll know how serious I am then." She nods, confident in her decision.

"Tomorrow it is," you confirm. "My mom should be home soon, I'll introduce you to her, and I'm sure she'll be more than happy to let you stay the night. You won't be the first pink-haired alien she let into her home after all."

Lala giggles and the two of you fall into a comfortable silence as you enjoy the bath. Your mind is anything but relaxed though. While you still think that this is the best option, it's also true that you now only have a single night to win Lala over. If she resolves things with her father before falling for you, then there was a very real chance that she would leave and you'd never see her again.

No, with the reveal of your Charmian heritage, there was a chance you'd be able to meet her again in the future. And in the worst-case scenario, you can do simple missions until you gather enough credits to chase after her. In the absolute worst case you can purchase a Binding and use that instead of relying on your charms.

But you'd really rather not do any of that. Those methods are slow, tedious, and annoying. So no, you have to make Lala fall for you tonight.

There's a part of you that's tempted to leverage what you've already started and use Sticky Fingers to make her addicted to your touch. To take her entirely and fuck her brains out until she can't bear the thought of being away from you.

But you restrain that part of yourself. As incredibly tempting as that is, rushing Lala into sex isn't the right play. You could do it, and she'd definitely enjoy it, but Lala's innocence would play against you here. She'd take the sex in stride as a new experience, but there's a good chance she wouldn't really associate it with 'love'.

And even if it did work, if Gid found out that you gained Lala's affection by sexually corrupting her…well, the planet would definitely be at risk, which would be a massive hindrance to your plans.

No, lewding Lala could come later. Would come later. For now, you need another method.

And as you sit in the bath thinking, another method does come to mind. One you almost overlooked, wrapped up in scheming as you are. But as you think it over you become more and more confident that it'll work.

If lewding her won't work, why not just get to know her like a normal teenager?

A few minutes later, the two of you get out of the bath and dry off, giving you another brief show at Lala's beautiful body before Peke clothed her in her default alien outfit. Then you go back to the living room to talk some more. You shoot your mother a text, letting her know you have a guest over that you want her to meet when she gets off of work, but that she doesn't need to rush home. You also don't reply to the text she sends back asking who it is. If you told her, she'd rush home, and you want a bit more time alone with Lala. But you also don't want her to get totally surprised by the alien in her house. Just a little bit.

That taken care of, you turn to Lala. If you're going to get to know her like a normal person, then the best way is to talk about her interests. And thankfully, you not only know her primary hobby, but you also have a perfect way to connect with her over it.

"I had a question about Charmians, actually," you say. "Do they have special abilities or anything like that? Beyond the supernaturally beautiful thing."

"They also don't have to worry about their figure," Lala explains cheerfully. "You'd have to try really hard to put on weight. At least, that's how it is for the girls. I've never met a male Charmian before you."

"I see," you reply. That wasn't what you were looking for, but it is an interesting fact to keep in the back of your mind. "Is that it?"

"Hmm," she says, thinking for a moment. "Oh yeah, sometimes they get an ability unique to them. My mother and sisters both have things like that. I think half-Charmians only get it sometimes though. I don't have anything like that, but I take a lot more after my Papa."

Lala's genius isn't a Charmian thing? No, that makes sense now that you think about it. It doesn't fit what the others can do, and she is significantly stronger than her sisters. But that's something to think about later. "Oh, you have sisters?" you ask, pretending like you had no idea.

"Two little sisters, yep!" Lala says. "Nana and Momo are my precious little twin sisters. Nana can talk to any kind of animal, and Momo can talk to any kind of plant."

"That's super interesting, because I have an ability kind of like that too," you explain. "But what I can talk to are machines and devices."

Lala's eyes light up as she scoots closer to you. "Really? What kinds of machines?"

"All sorts," you say, not flinching back from her sudden closeness. "Everything from simple electronic keypads to cell phones to airplanes. I've had trouble figuring out what determines if I can talk to it or not, but it does need at least a little bit of complexity. I can't talk to a light switch, for example."

"That definitely sounds like a Charmian ability, and a really cool one at that!" Lala exclaims. She pulls out her phone, or rather her D-Dial, a phone-like device that contains all of her inventions somehow stored in a digital space where she can pull them out at will. You believe it actually functions as a phone as well.

You also note that it looks different than what you remember. Just like the rest of this world has been pulled into the modern day, with you and your classmates using smartphones rather than flip phones, Lala's D-Dial is also a smartphone now. You don't remember setting anything like that in Universal Calibration or any other perk. However, you are thankful for the convenience.

She taps at the screen a few times. With a noise similar to a Star Trek teleportation, though lower pitched and shorter, a length of pale-pink cable that ends on both sides with a pink heart appears on the coffee table in front of you.

"Can you show me?" she asks. "This is Wind-Wind Rope-kun, one of my inventions. I use it to tie up things!"

You pause as a couple thoughts flicker through your mind, the first being Lala's naming scheme for her inventions. You completely forgot how cute and silly their names could be. It was part of her charm, but you were already dreading having to use them yourself. Maybe you can get away with just the last part, Rope-kun?

Second, Lala just pulled out one of her inventions. Your experience reading the manga told you that there was a very high chance of something happening and things turning lewd. Which, admittedly, you're fine with spontaneous lewdness, but there was also a good chance of it coming at the cost of some destruction of property, and you'd rather not have a hole in your wall or have your living room destroyed.

Then again, the majority of those situations were triggered by Rito or seemed to be focused on him. Without his infamously reality-bending lewd luck, and so long as you are careful, perhaps you can avoid that same fate?

So, not letting any apprehension show on your face, you carefully pick up the length of mechanical rope and turn it on, since you can't communicate with something that is powered off.

You feel a faint vibration of the internals of Rope-kun coming to life as power is supplied, but besides that, it doesn't move, and some of the tension eases out of your shoulders.

"Hello Rope-kun," you greet it, focusing on actually communicating with it. Your ability doesn't seem to drain energy, and you can do it by accident, but as you gained more experience with it you realized it's not an always-on thing, but something you usually have to try for. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing okay!" a feminine and energetic voice says in your head. It sounds somewhat like Lala, but peppier and higher pitched. "Would be feeling better if I was wrapped around something though!"

"What does it say?" Lala asks, eagerly watching the conversation.

"It says it wishes it was wrapped around something right now," you convey. "That's pretty normal for most devices, they enjoy performing the function they were built for."

"Really?" Lala replies, intrigue clear in her voice. "So they can enjoy things even if they don't have an AI installed?"

"My remote control would be the happiest thing alive if I spent all day doing nothing but changing the channels and volume on the TV, according to it," you explain. "At least, that's how I interpret it. I'm not sure if somehow, by conversing with them, these devices do gain some kind of sentience, or if I have some weird esoteric sense for devices that my brain interprets weirdly and presents it to me like that."

"Hmm, I'm not really sure," Lala says, a finger on her chin again. "The plants and animals my sisters talk to seem smarter than normal, but I've never really looked into if that was part of their power or if just the ability to communicate was enough to make them seem smarter." She focuses back on you. "Try asking when it was made. That shouldn't be something you could guess and I didn't save it anywhere."

"Rope-kun, when were you created?" you ask. Of the two of you, Lala is definitely the smarter one, and she's more experienced with powers like this, so you'll follow her lead for experimentation.

"Lala-sama created me 8 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 17 hours, 20 minutes, and 6 seconds ago," it dutifully answers. "And she last performed maintenance on me 1 week, 2 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 14 seconds ago."

You repeat the long strings of time back to Lala. "That's right!" she confirms. "It's super interesting that it converted it to Earth time though. Deviluke has a pretty similar solar and day cycle, but it's not exactly the same, our days are a little shorter but we have more days in our year, making them longer. But it gave the answer in Earth time instead of Deviluke time, which is super neat! It shouldn't have any components that can keep track of time or do those kinds of calculations!"

Huh. Good to know that your power just straight-up defies logic. You also file away the information about Deviluke's time difference with Earth. But you can worry more about those later. You haven't forgotten your goal of getting closer to Lala though.

"You really know your stuff, huh?" you ask Lala as you examine Rope-kun more. "Do you make a lot of stuff like this?"

"All the time!" Lala replies. "I even made Peke! She's my favorite creation."

"Your words honor me, Lala-sama," Peke replies.

The emotion clear in Peke's voice is a reminder that Lala's genius doesn't extend to just the mechanical aspects of her inventions. Peke is essentially a fully sapient AI created by Lala. And, now that you think about it, you've never been able to test your ability on something sentient, much less sapient.

You open your mouth to ask to try with her when Lala speaks first.

"Why don't you try it on Peke?" Lala suggests. "Peke can talk normally and can tell us if she feels smarter or anything like that."

Great minds think alike you suppose. "That's a good idea. Are you fine with that Peke?"

"Is it safe to assume that you can only communicate with machines, but you do not control them?" Peke asks. "That is the case for Lala-sama's sisters."

"As far as I'm aware, yes," you confirm. "I can ask them to do things, but that doesn't mean they'll say yes. Many have refused my requests." Locks were especially difficult to convince to open.

"Then I have no qualms about you using your ability on me."

You nod before activating your ability. "Then, Peke, could you turn Lala's outfit pink for me?"

Lala's eyes widen slightly, surprise and amusement clear on her face.

"Hmm, that is strange," Peke mutters. "I am not sure how to explain it, but there was a definite difference in how I heard those words. The only thing I can say for certain is that I did not need to translate it, I understood them regardless."

"But you don't feel any smarter or anything?" Lala asks.

"Not that I can notice, nor do I feel like I have any additional capabilities. I felt something strange when I heard his words, though it was not unpleasant, merely new. But I do not know how to describe it beyond that I was able to understand Saitou-san's request without a shred of doubt."

Lala turns to you. "How about you Akihiko-san? Did you hear anything that Peke didn't say out loud? Or sense anything?"

You shake your head. "Just what she has said out loud."

Lala's eternal smile grows a little bigger, and her gaze becomes sharper. "I really wonder how it works then. Try talking to Sniff-Sniff Trace-kun!" She uses her D-Dial to materialize another machine on the table, this time a small robotic dog.

What follows is you talking to what you assume is every functioning device in Lala's D-Dial, asking them questions and even asking them to do things. Lala doesn't put any of them away after pulling them out, so they slowly fill the living room. You're a little tense, waiting for one to malfunction and then set off the others, but it never happens. Rope-kun spends most of the time coiled around your arm, content.

You don't learn much more about your ability though. The rules still seem inconsistent, or at least follow a basis that you haven't guessed yet. Many of her devices have some level of intelligence, but that level does not seem to correspond to how they react to you talking to them. Only Peke really notes it as strange, the others accepting it. Then again, Peke is the only sapient one of the lot. Most of the others you would hesitate to even call sentient, instead just having decent but normal AI.

Even the ones that are capable of speech don't show any changes to anyone besides yourself. And even more interestingly, none of them respond to you verbally, only telepathically. When you realize this, you urge Peke to respond to you without talking out loud, and you are able to hear her voice in your head without Lala hearing anything, but only if you talk to her with your ability first. Peke can't just send messages to your head anytime she wants, the 'connection', for lack of a better word, fades after a few moments of not being used.

Most of the non-sentient devices do what you say, so long as you ask them to do something they were built to do, but a couple of them refuse to listen to you, saying they only do what Lala tells them to. They don't respond to her verbally saying to listen to you either. For all that what you hear marks them as intelligent, none of that shows when anyone else uses them, even when actively using your power on them.

When you tell them that Lala said it was okay they don't acknowledge that she spoke and act as if they've only heard that from you. Most of the stubborn ones don't trust you either and don't believe you, even when Lala is actively trying to talk to them.

Still, it's a fun time, especially for Lala, who seems to be enjoying showing off and explaining all of her different inventions and having you talk to them. She even does a bit of maintenance on a few when you ask them what's wrong with them, and they're able to tell you.

But as the evening draws near and your mother texts you saying she's on her way home, you convince Lala to put away her gadgets so your mom doesn't freak out too badly. But the two of you keep chatting about it, theorizing about your power until you hear the front door open.

"I'm home!" your mother calls out as she enters, closing the door behind her. You hear her taking her shoes off and walking down the hallway. "I thought you said you had a guest over? I don't see any shoes in the-" your mother cuts herself off as she enters the living room and sees Lala.

"Oh," she finishes after a moment, looking at Lala in confusion. "Wait… that hair and those clothes… are you…?"

"Mom, this is Lala," you say, standing up and introducing Lala. "Yes, she's an alien. Like me, she's half-Charmian. And now that I'm thinking about it, I forgot to ask what her other half was."

"Devilukean, like my dad!" Lala cheerfully and helpfully supplies, also standing up. Her spaded tail waves helpfully, her one distinguishing Devilukean feature. "It's nice to meet you!"

Your mom looks at you, bewildered. Then she looks at Lala, her spaded tail clear on display and her very obviously alien outfit on. Then she looks back at you. "You brought an alien home?"

"I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" you say with a small and nervous chuckle. "Oh, she's even on the run too, just like Dad was. But not from slavers or anything like that, thankfully. Just from home."

Your mother stares at you for another few moments, silently processing that as a series of emotions pass over her face. Then she sighs. "Let me go get changed and freshen up, and then you two can tell me all about it."

She turns around, going back into the hallway, and you hear her trudge up the stairs headed to her bedroom.

"She seems nice!" Lala says, ever positive.

"She's pretty great," you agree. Though you're going to need to figure out how you want to handle her sooner or later. You're not worried about her accepting Lala. Hell, you're not even worried about how she'll react to you seducing Lala's sisters. She'll find it strange most likely, but you're confident you can make her accept it.

But your plans don't stop here. There's a good chance you'll purchase a waifu before you leave this world, and even if you don't, going after Lala's happily married mother is not something your mother will accept, not as she is now.

A few different solutions come to mind, but you can't say you love any of them. Still, that's not a problem you have to solve right now. You have time to think over it, at least until Lala is captured. You most likely won't be purchasing any waifus before that.

A couple minutes later your mother comes down in…not quite casual clothes, but certainly less formal than her business suit. You also notice pretty quickly that her mood has changed, with her seemingly having come to terms with the current situation while she was freshening up.

She has a polite smile on her face, like when she's dealing with neighbors we don't know very well. But below it is a sense of…giddiness? Some kind of excitement is causing her eyes to shine and the corners of her lips to twitch a little higher whenever she looks at the two of you.

"So how did you run into Lala-chan, Aki-kun?" your mother asks, not wasting any time. "I thought you were sick this morning?"

"I told you I wasn't," you reply. "I just didn't sleep much last night and was tired. After you left I slept for a couple more hours and then woke up feeling a lot better."

Her eyes narrow slightly as she looks at you. "I see, I see. And after your nap, you decided to go out instead of going to school?"

It's clear that she doesn't believe you, but isn't pushing it right now. You make a mental note to train your ability to lie even further. Not being able to fool your Mom might end up being an annoying hurdle.

"Well, you had already called out sick for me," you say. "I thought I might as well enjoy the free day." No point in hiding it. If you had worn your school uniform, you could have bullshitted your way into saying you were on the way when you had spotted Lala. But wearing that would have made you stick out like a sore thumb for any truancy officers, so you had dressed in normal clothes.

"I suppose that's true," she says in a way that implies both that she doesn't agree and that you'll be hearing more about that later. "So, how did that lead to meeting Lala?"

"Well, I saw her spaceship crash," you say bluntly. Your mother's eyes widen at that.

"It wasn't a crash, it was an emergency landing," Lala protests, pouting slightly. "All of the systems needed to land were working just fine. The warp drive was just a little on fire."

Your mom's attention shifts to Lala, and her expression softens. "Sorry dear, I didn't mean to ignore you. Lala-chan, right? How did my son meet you?"

"Well, after I landed in a park, I made sure to put the fire out and then I exited the ship," Lala starts explaining. "I wasn't really in any danger. But a few minutes later I spotted Akihito-san run up looking concerned, ready to help." She giggles. "Then I accidentally scared him by greeting him from behind. I guess he didn't hear me."

Your mother smiles, a mix of pride and amusement in her expression. "I see. That does sound like Aki-kun, he's always willing to help. You won't find many boys his age as responsible and mature as he is."

Is… is your mother talking you up to Lala? You're used to receiving praise from her, she dotes on you after all. But she doesn't usually brag about you to others, not in front of you at least.

"After that, we talked, realized we were both half-Charmian, and then Lala mentioned that she was on the run, so I invited her here so she could lay low," you finish the explanation.

"Right, the 'on the run' stuff," your mom says, latching on to that and becoming more serious. "Explain."

"My father wants to marry me off, but all the guys he sets me up with are creeps, and he keeps getting really pushy about it, so I ran away from home!" Lala explains. "My bodyguards are chasing me to bring me home, and they've probably found my ship by now. But thanks to Akihiko-san, they have no idea where I am!"

There's a glint in your mother's eyes that you recognize, and you brace yourself. "He's trying to force you to marry?" she asks, a sharp edge to her tone. "And not to someone of your choosing, but to someone who you obviously don't like? Absolutely not, I won't stand for that. Lala-chan, you are free to stay here as long as you like, I won't let him control your love life like that."

"Thanks a lot, Saitou-san!" Lala replies.

"Please, call me Tomomi," your mother replies with a warm smile. "And feel free to be less formal with my son as well."

You raise an eyebrow at your mother deciding what Lala can call you, but you don't really mind so you don't protest and give Lala a nod when she looks at you to confirm. "Then I'll call you Aki-kun as well!" she declares. "You can just call me Lala."

"If you insist, I'll do just that, Lala," you reply with a smile. Thanks, mom, for making that easy. You kept meaning to bring up the name thing but there hadn't been a good time. Though it's a little odd that your mother was so eager to have Lala use her given name.

"You should still contact your father though, just to let him know you're okay," your mom continues. "I'm sure he's worried about you, especially if your ship cr- had some problems."

"I'm actually going to talk to him tomorrow," Lala says. "I'm gonna make him understand that I don't want to marry the kind of people that he keeps approving, and I won't come home until he accepts that."

Your mother nods approvingly. "That's a good idea, I approve. Just make sure to do it in a way he can't trace, so you can make sure to uphold that promise." She seems to have adapted to the situation quite quickly. Then again, this isn't the first time she's had a surprise visit from an alien telling wild stories.

"Okay!" Lala agrees. You're sure she won't have any trouble with that. The only reason she got caught in canon was that she was forced to use her teleport, which only brought organic matter, leaving Peke behind. Peke was able to find her… somehow? You make a mental note to try to figure that out later. But Lala's bodyguards found her by following Peke, rather than finding her on their own.

"Now, tell me all about these men he's setting you up with," your mother asks, leaning forward. You recognize the look in her eye. She's trying to figure out just how hard she's going to go after Gid and is collecting evidence.

Lala is all too happy to talk about the various suitors she's had to deal with, describing their backgrounds and what they're like. Most of them you never saw or heard about, though a few of them sound familiar.

But there's one very distracting question bothering you while you listen to Lala describe them. What the fuck is wrong with Gid's head?

Sure, most of them are some form of nobility or wealthy businessmen, but none of them are important. The planets they're from or the businesses they own aren't critical or significant. Hell, some of them aren't even in the direct line of succession.

But Lala is the heir apparent to the Galactic Empire. You would think that the caliber of her potential husband would be suitably high as well. But that is not the case. Most of them are weirdos or perverts, and openly so. Half of them have no accomplishments or accolades to their names beyond their heritage. A few of them are, as far as you can tell from how Lala describes them, practically nobodies.

You know that Gid wants to marry Lala off so she can take the throne and he can retire. But this feels far too careless, and you don't really understand why he would do this. Or how her mother would even allow it.

Which begs the question: Is Gid an idiot? Is Lala's mother? Or is there something that you're missing, that canon never covered? Your gut tells you that finding the answer to that is the key to victory.

"And that's all of them so far," Lala finishes after giving a brief summary of nearly two dozen different suitors.

You share a look with your mother, and you can tell her thoughts are the same as yours. "When you talk to your father…" your mom starts.

"I'll be there with her, giving her moral support and help put some of her arguments in words that he'll understand," you supply. "We'll handle it."

She gives you a searching gaze for a moment before nodding and smiling and looking back at Lala. "You can trust Aki-kun to help you out with this. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he's very reliable." She looks up at the clock. "Oh, would you look at the time," she says. "Shouldn't you be starting dinner now, Aki-kun? Why don't you make something to introduce Lala to Earth food? The two of us will have a bit of girl talk while we wait."

You hesitate, a little worried about what kind of girl talk your mother wants to have, but you don't have a good reason to not go. "Sure, I'll make something extra special," you say, standing up.

You leave the girls to talk among themselves as you enter the kitchen. You're a little worried that your mother, who is, as far as you can tell, trying to play matchmaker between you and Lala. If you had to guess, she's excited that you've finally shown the slightest bit of interest in a girl, one who mirrors the alien she fell in love with.

Perhaps you should have predicted this reaction, but you hadn't. You are a little worried that your mother will push too much and ruin your plans, but after a moment's thought, you decide that that's fairly unlikely. Your mother is pretty socially savvy as well after all, and she'll probably pick up on the fact that Lala isn't one to be pushed into things. Not to mention that trying to hook her up with me while she's on the run from her father forcing her into a marriage would be a rather large misstep.

Reasonably confident that your mother won't ruin your plans, you head into the kitchen, focus entirely on making Lala a delicious dinner.


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This is the story-only edit of a Quest I run over on Questionable Questing! If you'd like to participate in the Quest and vote on decisions the character makes, head there!