Today was the day when Rikimaru was coming to live with us in Lovers' Mansion.
It's been almost a month since I visited her and Seigi at the hospital and asked Fleminar to help them. Fleminar had said it would take a month for the homunculus prosthetics to be completed, but I guess she finished faster than expected.
It seems that she's also going to visit along with Rikimaru and Seigi. This is a good opportunity, there is something I want Fleminar's help with. I even left something prepared in my study in case I need to convince her.
At about 9 AM, the three of them arrived, so I went to go greet them.
"Welcome. Glad you all made it fine."
"Thank you, Yuuto."
"Ooh, so this is Rikimaru-chan's new home."
"Morioka-kun's mansion… it smells better than I'd expect."
I'm pretty sure that the smell Fleminar expected to find here can be found in the Healing Lovers' room, but I'll let her discover that for herself if she ever makes her way there.
I took a good look at Rikimaru and Seigi. Of course, it wasn't just for the sake of perversion.
The twins had been greatly damaged in their fight against Lost, so much so that Seigi had lost a leg and Rikimaru had lost an arm. And that's not to mention the countless other places in their bodies where they had been scarred and hurt.
That's why I had asked Fleminar to make them homunculus prosthetics. She agreed so long as I told her how to turn Candidates into Cards, which I did.
And looking at them now, I couldn't even tell that they had been so hurt before. They looked perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened.
Maybe I looked a little too intently, because Seigi started blushing.
"It's surprising, really. There's no sense of discomfort or anything at all. With a little bit of rehab, I feel like I'll be back to tip-top shape."
"I went through a lot of trouble to make sure that would be the case. I could have made something that performed even better than the original, but in that case I'd have to swap your whole body for homunculus parts."
"No, that would have been a bit much."
"But you forgot Rikimaru-chan's transforming arm!"
"I was going to do it, but then your sister complained to me, so I gave up."
"Why, Seigi-chan?!"
"Nee-sama, I'll get mad if you don't stop playing around."
"Sorry…"
Quite lively, as usual. It's good to know they're back to normal.
We headed inside Lovers' Mansion. Rebecca and Maki happened to be passing by, so I asked them to guide Rikimaru and Seigi around.
As for Fleminar, I asked her to follow me.
"I assume Morioka-kun wants to talk about something beside the twins."
"Yeah. I also want to hear about their condition, but I figured this was a good opportunity to ask something else, since you're here."
The room I took Fleminar to was my study. Of course, being as knowledgeable as she was, she immediately figured out what I was doing there.
"So you're starting to study magic, huh. And you've made some fair progress. Decomposition, optimization and even feint-formulas. Even a researcher might take a few years to reach this level, so this is quite impressive. And this is…"
"It's the formula for one of my Characteristic Magics. I want to see if I can somehow mess with it."
"Even I never thought of something like this. If you manage to do it, then you could make something like an anti-magic for any Candidate that might bother you."
Well, that's easy enough to say, but very hard to do. Even if I had my opponent's Characteristic Magic's formula, making a counter spell and finding the chance to use it would be hard enough.
And I haven't even proven that it is possible to mess with the formula of a Characteristic Magic. This might just be a big waste of time, but I'm still going to go through with it. If nothing else, it's a good learning experience.
"So, other than to boast about it, why did Morioka-kun bring me here?"
"Honestly, I'm a bit stumped. I feel like I've progressed as far as I could, but it's like I've hit a wall. I was wondering if Fleminar might be able to help me."
"Morioka-kun, do I need to remind you I'm not your Card nor are we particularly close? You seem like a good boy, and I do like helping you, but I'm under no obligation to."
Yeah, I figured that would be the case. To just demand something from someone without even offering anything in return is just too much.
Fleminar then noticed a certain half-open envelope. The little bit that was out caught her attention. She finished opening it and took out the documents inside to read them.
That was the little something I had prepared for her. If this doesn't lure her to help me, then I'll just have to give up.
After a few seconds, Fleminar's expression changed completely.
"Heh, I see."
"So, will you help?"
"No. Sorry, but don't count on me this time. Even I can't take someone like the Hiraizumi family lightly, so I can't be getting too close to Morioka-kun until you settle things with them. It is a shame though, I think some of my knowledge could help you, but unfortunately we can't work together. Oh, but I suppose there is such a thing as a leak of information. If it were to happen, it would probably be when I give lessons to your teacher every day after lunch. I should probably take precautions against that."
… What a roundabout way of doing things. But I suppose I did something similar, so I can't really complain.
Fleminar put the documents back inside the envelope and then hid it in her cleavage. I don't mind that, since I made those for Fleminar to keep, but the place she decided to hide them was unexpected.
Maybe noticing my gaze, Fleminar tried teasing me a bit by pressing her breasts together.
Does she think this level of teasing will get me flustered? All it's doing is getting me horny. … Is that her plan?!
Anyway, jokes aside. With that business finished, we went outside my study and then looked for Seigi and Rikimaru. After we joined back up, I relieved Maki and Rebecca of looking after them and finished giving them the tour of the mansion.
Once we checked everywhere, we went to one of the mansion's living rooms to have a talk.
I asked Fleminar to explain to us about Seigi and Rikimaru's health.
"Okay, let me explain everything properly. There will be no problems of rejection with the homunculus prosthetics since I made them individually based on material from each of their bodies. They will need a bit of rehabilitation to get fully used to them, but otherwise there should be no problems."
That's about what I expected, and looking at Rikimaru and Seigi nodding along, I guess it's in line with what was explained to them.
"I should point out though that this is the first I've ever heard of someone losing their Arcanas. Given the novelty of the case, I wouldn't recommend either of you put too much stress on your bodies, such as engaging in a fight, until we know for sure what the consequence of that loss was."
Since Fleminar was treating Seigi and Rikimaru, they told her that they had lost their Arcanas.
As Fleminar said, nothing of the type had ever happened before. And I also know from talking to Sein that the Arcanas can't go back on their choice, so it's not like they could have just given up on the twins.
It really is a big mystery. Even Sein has no idea about what could have happened. Since we've got no clues, I've just let it be for now, but I should probably look into it once the thing with Hierophant is taken care of.
"Well, other than that there are no problems. You're both free to do as you please."
And with that, Fleminar had officially finished her job with Rikimaru and Seigi.
Which reminds me, there's something important I have to tell the twins.
"By the way, I know I promised to let Rikimaru stay here, but there have been some developments recently that I think both of you should know. Basically, I'm going to fight Hierophant one of these days."
""... Eh?""
Yeah, that's about the reaction I expected. Since they had been in the hospital, I guess the news hadn't reached them yet.
So I explained everything to Rikimaru and Seigi. How I took in Rinne and Hisoka, who were being chased by their families, and how it was likely that they would send Hierophant my way at some point, or that they maybe have already done it.
"And that's basically how it went. I don't mind if Rikimaru wants to stay here, but I'll also understand if you'd prefer to not get involved."
The reason why Seigi asked me to take in Rikimaru is because their family, the Sannous, are proud of their abilities with swords, but Rikimaru doesn't have any. She was able to keep her place in the family because of her Arcana, but now she also lost that.
So it's a similar situation to Rinne and Hisoka really. As far as I'm concerned, there's not much difference between taking care of 1, 2 or 3 girls at once. I wish the context was different though.
"R-Rikimaru-chan is thankful, but-"
"This is fine. Nee-sama has been kicked out of the Sannou family already, so she doesn't have anywhere to go, and it's probably fate that people in similar situations to hers have already gathered here."
"Hey, Seigi-chan, your sister is talking, you know."
Oh, Rikimaru dropped her playful tone. I guess she's speaking seriously now.
"What's the problem, nee-sama?"
"What do you mean what's the problem?! Yuuto just said he was going to fight Hierophant, the Hiraizumi family! They're assassins, you know, assassins. I don't want to die!"
"Nee-sama, you have nowhere else to go, and you know very well our family would rather have you dead than dirtying their name somewhere. So you might end up facing assassins anyway."
"U-um, maybe Seigi-chan can help me rent a place?"
"No. Rather, depending on how you look at it, isn't this convenient? It's not like you're adding any trouble to Yuuto. Just help out where you can, let him do as he pleases with your body, and you really can't ask for much more."
"I-I guess. Then, at least stay with me, Seigi-chan!"
"No way, I don't want to die."
Interesting argument. But I would prefer it if no one died. Also, why is it that everyone is so convinced I can't keep it in my pants?
… Well, Rikimaru is pretty, I admit I'd be interested in doing some stuff with her. Maybe it would also be nice to have Seigi join. I'd see just how alike the twins are.
I felt someone's gaze on me, turns out Fleminar, Seigi and Rikimaru were looking at me. I felt like they could read my mind, and I could not begin to describe how judgeful their eyes were.
I'm sorry, I'll stop daydreaming.
After a while, Rikimaru accepted her fate. I guess, with this, I got a new maid?
With that taken care of, it was time for me to move on to the last business I had with them.
I asked them to wait a minute while I texted Lizel. A little bit after, two envelopes were brought to us. I gave one to Seigi and another to Fleminar.
"This is…?"
"It's an invitation to my Party."
A Party is, as the name implies, a party the Devil King Candidate hosts in order to try and gain supporters. I plan to host mine fairly soon.
"Yuuto, doesn't Rikimaru-chan get an invite?"
"Rikimaru, you live here now. You can't not come."
"Ah, yeah, forgot."
I guess she'll need some time to get used to it.
In the meantime, Seigi and Fleminar finished reading their invitations.
"Alright, I'll come. Who else are you planning to invite, Morioka-kun?"
"Everyone."
Seigi and Fleminar were stunned for a moment.
It wasn't a lie though. I plan to invite everyone. At least a representative of each noble devil family, not to mention Candidates and other important people. That's what I agreed on with Lizel, Stella and Hisoka.
I don't know if they will all come or not, but I will invite them. I just figured I'd give these personally since the opportunity was there.
I've also sent invites to Miyako and Rumi through Miyabi and Ruki. Since they're close to me, I feel that they deserve a little bit of preferential treatment.
"Haha, that's interesting. Morioka-kun never ceases to amaze."
"Wait a second, Yuuto, if all these people gather here… are you planning to start a war or something?"
"I guess it's something along those lines."
Then, I told Seigi, Rikimaru and Fleminar what I planned to tell everyone at my Party. I also had this message passed along to Rumi and Miyako along with their invites.
It wasn't really a declaration of war, but to the likes of noble devils, it might as well be.
Seigi's face even went a little pale and Rikimaru began to pray that she didn't die.
"... I'll need some time to think it over. Thinking of what could happen after that… it might be a do or die time for the Sannou family."
"Not just for the Sannou family, but for everyone, both in the Devil World and Human World. Which I'm guessing is why Morioka-kun said he would invite everyone. In fact, we could even consider ourselves privileged to have heard it before everyone else."
Yeah, that's why I'm telling them early. Again, they're close to me, so they deserve some preferential treatment.
In any case, with this, our business was concluded. I saw Seigi and Fleminar off. Then, I guided Rikimaru to where her maid training would begin.