Sorry for the delay, but here's the chapter! Hope you enjoy! Review for motivation!
Beta: XenoTime39
"Riiitoooo. Hurry up, I wanna see Rito-papa!" Lala called out, pulling Rito along.
"I'm going, I'm going. There's no need to rush, Lala. We have to buy supplies for dad anyway."
"Yeah, that's why I'm here," Mikan chimed in.
"Dad wanted to check up on you. He hasn't seen you in a few weeks after all," Rito said, laughing at Mikan's grumpy tone.
"Oh, Rito-papa is probably really missing his cute daughter, huh?" Lala commented.
"As if," Mikan said, a light tint of red staining her cheeks, "He just wants to slack off from work."
"Yeah, he'll probably take our visit as an opportunity to both stop his work and make me help out because of it," Rito groaned before noticing something, "Oh look, the store dad told us to buy his stuff at."
Before Rito could enter the door though, Mikan stopped him saying, "I'll go buy what dad asked for. You'd take too long with this sorta stuff."
"I'll come in and watch," Lala announced, following Mikan into the store.
'What's wrong with me browsing?' Rito asked internally. Having been unofficially relegated to the waiting team, Rito opted to lean up against the store's wall.
With nothing else to do but observe the people walking around, Rito stood and watched.
Whether it be an old man down the street advertising his food or the girls at the corner of the street handing out tissues, there was a lot going on at this time of day. There was even a suspiciously-dressed figure running down this side of the street who looks to be tripping over himself for some reason and-
"Ahh!" the now recognized girl yelled out before noticing that someone had stopped her fall.
"I got you," Rito said, pulling her to her feet. "That was good. It would've been bad had you fallen."
"T-thank you. I don't know what came over me," the girl said. Although she wore a baggy hat and a mask, her voice and figure showed her to be a very attractive girl.
"Hey, no worries. It happens to the best of us," Rito said, reminiscing. 'I used to trip on air itself,' Rito thought as an aside.
Some expression or mood came over the girl as she looked up to Rito, causing her to be caught in a daze.
"Uh, Miss?" asked Rito, noticing her still figure, "Is something wrong?"
"A-ah, nothings wrong," the girl hurriedly answered, shaking her head, "I guess I'll be on my way then."
"Just be sure to watch your feet," Rito joked goodnaturedly. Hearing the door to the store open, his attention was redirected to Mikan and Lala.
"Ritooo, Mikan and I bought ink, brushes, and other stuff for Rito-papa!" Lala exclaimed.
"More like I did everything on my own while you watched," Mikan pouted, switching fast as she faced her brother. "Yeah, Lala is right. We're done here."
Mikan then led the group of three away, leaving behind the girl who tripped. She took off her mask for a moment, so that she could relax as she looked back on this 'Rito' person. For some reason, his demeanor and kind words caught her off guard. 'Hmm, maybe I'll run into him again. That'd be… nice," the girl said.
"Mama, is that Magical Kyoko?" a little girl said as she pointed at her. Kirisaki Kyōko quickly put her mask back on as she continued her run. An idol has to stay in shape after all!
(-)
Bwing Bwing the doorbell rang. "I'll be right there!" a gruff voice called out as thuds could be heard along with grunts as if he's tripping over himself as he approached the door. Eventually, Saibai Yuuki made it to the door. "Ah, if it isn't Rito and sweet little Mikan. It's nice of you to visit again, Lala, don't think I haven't forgotten you," Saibai smirked as he noticed varying faces being thrown his way.
"We'll let ourselves in," Mikan said, inspecting the apartment as she walked in. "You really need to clean things up dad. You're a mangaka, not a trash compactor."
"Oh you know how things get right up until the deadline date. Also, I always make sure to clean up afterwards!" Saibai adamantly defended, giving a meek look towards his daughter.
Mikan just starred in response before she started tidying things up.
"I hope you don't expect me to help out today," Rito said, "I'm a little tired from certain things that happened along the way up."
"Huh, what kinda stuff. Wait- don't tell me," Saibai gave a good long look at Rito and Lala, alternating between the two.
"I don't know what you're implying, dad," Rito said, his tone getting increasingly rough, "but there was a little incident with some other aliens. Since Lala is a princess, she has suitors who tend to cause some trouble."
"Wait, she's a princess? Well look at you, Lala. Good on you for picking a good candidate for your prince," Saibai laughed, winking at her.
"Thanks," Lala said, saluting Saibai, "Rito will surely be able to succeed Papa and become Emperor of the galaxy!"
"Uhh, Lala?" Rito said.
"Look at you, Rito," Saibai said, "Aiming higher just like your old man! Just make sure you're able to come back home often to your family. Unfortunately, I flubbed that up," Saibai muttered.
"Uhh Lala?" Rito repeated.
"Of course I won't allow Rito to do something like that! He'll have to make time!" Lala declared.
"Lala, we really need to talk," Rito said, dragging Lala away to a part of the apartment where they could have a private conversation.
"Oh go have your fun you two. I'll be waiting for you Rito. Even if you're fighting off my future daughter in law's alien suitors, I need your skills while I map out the action scenes!" Saibai called out.
Rito groaned at his dad's words before addressing the situation at hand, namely being Emperor of the galaxy. "Lala, just how royal are you, Lala? Did you mean to say the galaxy earlier?"
"Of course I meant it. Papa is the Emperor of the Milky Way Galaxy, so naturally you'll inherit it one day," Lala said matter of factly.
"I'm not fit to be a king, let alone an emperor, Lala," Rito countered.
"Maybe now, but the day you become the emperor will be a different day. It'll all work out, trust me."
"I do trust you," Rito sighed, "This is a very stressful position to be in though. I'll need to be familiar with every planet, its politics, other galaxies, I-" Rito stopped himself, "I'll have to get stronger."
Lala was taken aback by Rito's serious expression. "You don't have to go that far, Rito. I can protect you if you want."
"No, if I want to stand at your side, I'll have to get stronger. Maybe I haven't treated your attacking suitors as the biggest threat," Rito rolled his eyes at his own remark," but I think that I need to be the one to protect you." Rito's face broke out into a smile as he said, "I think it'd be pretty silly for the Empress to protect the Emperor," Rito joked.
"Rito..." Lala mumbled, a blush forming on her face, "You know that no matter what happens, I'll still love you, right?"
Rito was shocked by just how sincere Lala's words were. Rito turned away as a blush of his own formed before he cooled it immediately. "Yeah, I know. But I need to do something. Maybe I'll ask Zastin for swordsmanship lessons."
"Ooh! That's a great idea. He's really strong!" Lala said.
"We'll have to track him down though. I haven't seen him in a while."
"Hey, Rito, Lala, you won't believe this," Mikan said, entering the room, "Dad got a new assistant, specifically a certain gray-haired swordsman."
"Eh? Zastin is here?" the two questioned. Lala and Rito quickly went to the main room for the manga creating process and were greeted with the sight of only a few assistants, including Zastin.
"Zastin? What are you doing here," Lala asked, walking up to the focused swordsman. The man seemed to have been tuning the world out as with some newly worn glasses, he was blowing through pages of drafting like they were nothing.
"Zaaaastin!" Lala yelled into Zastin's ear, knocking him out of the daze.
"Huh, what? Lala-sama? What are you doing here?"
"That's what we were asking you," Rito said.
"Oh you know Zastin?" Saibai asked from his seat, still breezing through pages, "I picked him up one day and thought he'd be a good model for a main character, but he took to assistant work well. Oh, I guess if you know him then he's probably an alien. You learn something every day I guess." Although Saibai's tone didn't show enthusiasm, Rito understood that while his dad was working, everything else was trivial.
"A-ah, I see," Rito said. After a short breath, Rito whispered to Zastin, "Hey, can you give me swordsmanship lessons later?"
That statement surprised the man as he hurriedly said, "How admirable of you, Rito-dono. Perhaps you can take on the art of Devilukean Swordsmanship. I'd be glad to teach you, but first you'll have to build up your body so that you can withstand the …." Zastin went on rambling about certain exercises and techniques. He was clearly very open to teaching Rito, thankfully.
"I understand that it'll take time," Rito interrupted him, making sure not to get too loud else his dad would hear, "Throw everything my way and I'll try my best," Rito said before plopping right beside Zastin as he took on other pages of the manga.
The three men working on the manga on a deadline got very focused as they went page after page. This left Lala with the prized job of snooping around. Thankfully, she didn't have to snoop alone.
"Hey, Mikan, what's this?" Lala asked, having picked up a thick book which didn't have pages, but photos.
"Oh that. It's a family photo book, mostly of when we were younger. I don't know why dad still has that," Mikan said.
Lala quickly took the opportunity to scroll through it, quickly flipping to a family page with a toddler Rito. "D'awww, Rito's so cute!" The next page showed a toddler Mikan holding on to Rito. "You really did love your brother, Mikan," Lala said.
"G-Give me that!" Mikan said, hurriedly taking the photo book from her and choosing which pages Lala could see.
"So that's what Rito-Mama looks like," Lala hummed as some full family photos came up. "She is so stylish! Making clothes must be easy for someone like her."
"Who knows," Mikan commented, "Mom and dad are so successful that they aren't home a lot, so I'd wager you're right. Rito and I also get sent a lot of clothes from her."
"Well that's a shame isn't it? You look so happy in this picture," Lala said, pointing to a full Yuuki family smile.
"Maybe so…" Mikan thought, contemplating her words. "What about you and your family? Rito already told me you have two little sisters, but what about your parents?"
"Hmm, well sadly, Mama and Papa are around as much as you'd expect from the King and Queen of Planet Deviluke. They're both so busy it can get kind of lonely. Thankfully, I have my sisters and Zastin to keep me company though!" Mikan smiled at Lala's warm optimism.
"The same problem exists even in space, then. That stinks."
"It is pretty sad, but still," Lala said, reminiscing, "I wouldn't have it any other way. Mama is such an incredible person, it'd be a waste for her not to work hard. Papa on the other hand is really kind. He may not show it all the time, but he cares a lot about everyone, including his subjects. I want to be like both of them so I can be twice as incredible!"
"While that's nice and all, isn't your dad the one to sick the entirety of space on Rito?"
Lala laughed, "That's his own way of being kind. Papa is weird like that! He thinks I don't know who I really care about and that I haven't picked a good enough guy. He hasn't met Rito though. Rito is good enough," Lala affirmed.
"You're very bold as usual," Mikan mumbled as she got up from her seat. "You can continue to browse the photos, I'm going to get back to cleaning.
"Ok!" Lala replied. Lala looked flipped and looked through more pages and seeing the growth of the boy of her dreams led to nothing but smiles. 'More and more the time I spend with Rito becomes special to me. I hope… I'm special to him too?'
(-)
Meanwhile, Rito was hard at work, his pen moving around crazy as he sketched and inked. Little did he know that the prince of planet Praveum was invading at that second.
"Finally, we meet, Yuuki Rito! I will take back Lala and will finally rule the galaxy?" The prince happened to be a quite small being, but he didn't let his size stop him.
Unfortunately for the prince, thanks to his size, his voice didn't carry far despite the prince being quite literally on the table next to Rito.
The prince, seeing this problem, concocted a plan to get noticed so he can begin his takeover.
'This Earthling appears to be scanning the papers in front of him. Perhaps if I go on them, he'll see me!'
With that plan in mind, the prince ran towards the pages with vigor… it's far too sad for the prince that it took forever to reach said pages.
After a good 10 minutes of running, the Praveum-em stood on top of the middle of a manga page while Rito was handing off pages to his dad. Meaning, theoretically, once he returned, his revenge would start.
When Rito sat back down, the Praveum-em shook with joy as he announced his evil plans. "I've graced you with my presence, Earthling! Finally, you will lay witness to- AH!" The pen came down fast and for the prince, this meant a giant object that was moving fast and very dangerously. With luck that he didn't know he had, the prince ran around the page in a crazed manner, praying that he'll survive.
After what felt like forever, the pen finally lifted from the page and it seemed like Rito had finally noticed the young prince.
"Aha! You see me! Now my reign will be-" the speech didn't finish as the prince was quite literally swiped off the page by Rito. In the end, after being injured by just one wave of Rito's arm, the Prince of Parveum left in tears and a full body cast.
Rito sneezed once. 'Huh, someone must be talking about me. Maybe that person is Lala?'
Rito himself would never notice that the small alien had ever been there.
"Rito, we're almost done here, so you're good to take Mikan and Lala home. I don't want you hanging out any later," Saibai said.
Rito gave the finishing touches to his pages before putting them to the side, "Alright then," he said, stretching his back, "Good luck on the page. Zastin, we'll meet up later."
"Of course, Rito-dono," Zastin replied, not looking up from his pages.
Rito went to the other room to find Lala engrossed in a photo book. Rito quietly walked up to behind Lala and suddenly called out, "What's so interesting!"
Lala was alarmed by the sudden voice, scooting back in a hurry. When she realized the source of the sudden voice, she pouted, "That wasn't very funny, Rito!"
"Sorry, sorry. You were entranced by the photos. I believe that's some old family stuff that dad forgot to put away," Rito commented. "Is little me really that interesting?"
"Of course he is!" Lala answered immediately. "You used to be a very energetic boy."
"Well, yeah. I had a phase where I had boundless energy. As I grew up, I didn't retain that energy sadly, but you better believe I try," Rito joked.
"Of course you do," Lala giggled, "I find it fun that Little Mikan clings to Rito even more than big Mikan."
Rito sweatdropped at that comment, "Uh, I guess Mikan taking care of me so much could be seen with something like that."
Lala merely put a finger to her mouth. "It's a secret for now!" Lala checked her watch, and suddenly she was on high alert. "Rito, we absolutely have to leave now! Magical Kyouko is about to be on!"
"We'll grab Mikan and then we'll be off then!" The two of them gave a quick farewell to Saibai and quickly carried Mikan, who was just done with cleaning, out of the apartment.
As they kept on running, it was made clear that if they kept running at human speed, they would miss the start of the show. With Rito's permission, Lala used Peke's transformation to quickly fly everyone safely while making sure that no one saw them dashing through the air.
Within no time, they arrived at the Yuuki residence. Lala made a beeline for the tv, turning it on and coincidently making it for Magical Kyoko's opening.
Catching his breath, Rito laughed a little before asking, "So what makes you like this tv show so much? It's really important to you judging by how fast you flew!
Lala danced a little to the opening. "It's so much fun to watch and it makes me want to make an invention like Magical Kyoko's magical fire that fires all evil!" Rito paled at the word fire. "Also Earth entertainment is just plain better than most other planet's anyway."
"Really?" Rito murmured, interested in that assessment. He took a look at Magical Kyoko, a witch-like character who was played by a dark haired beauty. "The actress is pretty cute I guess," he said non committedly.
"Right?!" Lala exclaimed, "She's the perfect witch! I hope we could see her in person one day."
"Who knows? It looks like they film in Saiban, so we might just run into her one day," Rito joked.
LIttle did Rito know that that very instance already happened.
