Superman OLCBC2

by FS Vula'Purrfectest

Instead of falling to Earth like Jor-El Intended, the future Superman's escape pod is knocked off course by the destruction of Krypton and sent hurtling into the ultra-luminous quasar at the center of Krypton's native Galaxy. Exposed to the strength of 100 trillion suns for an eternity, a version of Superman is born on par with the Super-Celestials.

2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing from DC Comics or To Love Ru. All content contained within this story is the property of their respective owners.

Omni Limit Club Berkeley Cardinal, Supreme Omnidony Counterparts © Thomas J Currie

Herptile God Appaneesty OLCBC2 © Thomas J Currie

Zenith Omnidonae Force (ZOF) © Thomas J Currie

Other Fanon Elements/OCs © Thomas J Currie

Description: Instead of falling to Earth like Jor-El Intended, the future Superman's escape pod is knocked off course by the destruction of Krypton and sent hurtling into the ultra-luminous quasar at the center of Krypton's native Galaxy. Exposed to the strength of 100 trillion suns for an eternity, a version of Superman is born on par with the Super-Celestials.

Following his escape from the singularity with some outside help, the infant Kal-El turns to pure energy in the To Love Ru Universe and undergoes complete subatomic recombination with the newly born Rito Yuuki, altering them both on a level not even the Super Celestials or the Source are ready for. One thing is for sure: the DC Omniverse will never be the same again.

Chapter Two: Broken Engagements, Shattered Arrangements, And An Alien's Estrangement

The older Rito got, the more powerful he became and the less he needed sleep. Sometimes, that scared him, but he'd learned to make good use of his time during the late hours of the night. Even so, the previous night had been mentally and emotionally draining, even for him, so he actually slept for the first time in years. As soon as the rising sun's first rays peeked through his curtain, however, he rose with it, having never been able to sleep during the hours of the day. The sun had been an endless source of invigoration for him ever since he could remember.

He opened his eyes, immediately raring to go and not feeling the common human condition known to many as being groggy. However, this particular morning would be seared onto Rito Yuuki's brain for years to come. He was aware of a presence beside him, and his eyes widened when he saw a familiar, very naked pink-haired beauty sleeping beside him.

He noticed the open window above his bed, and deduced she must have come in through there, noticed he was sleeping, and then decided to sleep in the same bed as him for whatever weird reason. "Wake up, Princess Lala." He quietly whispered while gently nudging her shoulder, careful to avoid her breasts and hyper-vigilant of Devilukean proposal customs.

With a yawn that was far too cute to be at all fair, Lala slowly opened her green orbs and gazed into his eyes with a sleepy smile. Her eyes then promptly widened when she realized what she'd done and sat up abruptly, using Rito's blanket to cover herself. "I'm so sorry, Rito! Peke, wake up! I need some clothes as quickly as possible!" She exclaimed as Rito instinctually muffled the sound waves caused by her distress so that Mikan wouldn't come barging in. The last thing he needed was her telling on him without giving him a chance to properly explain… whatever this was.

"Coming right up, Miss Lala!" Peke exclaimed in a somewhat groggy voice, impressing Rito once more with the sheer breadth of her range of emotions and feelings. He got up off the bed and stood back, turning away out of respect for Lala's modesty as Peke did her thing and formed Lala's usual, albeit unusual outfit.

"Okay, Rito, you can turn around now." Lala said in a low, apologetic voice, as Rito did just that.

"So, care to explain what you were doing in my bed?" He asked her with all the patience of a saint, secretly proud of how maturely he'd handled this incredibly stimulating situation.

Lala, if possible, looked even more shame-faced. "I'm so sorry, Rito! I came by to ask you some follow-up questions about last night, and I was thinking about running some tests, if you were willing. But then I saw you sleeping, and thought it could wait until morning, so I just left you. After the night you had, you deserved the rest."

"And the reason why you were asleep with me?" Rito asked her, before adding with a smile. "I'm not mad, Lala, merely surprised and a little frazzled. That is not what I expected to wake up to, not in the slightest. So, it just threw me for a loop."

Lala looked relieved to hear him say that, and responded in kind. "I didn't mean to. I just kinda started… watching you sleep and thinking about how cute you looked, and it just kind of… happened." She blushed while admitting this, and Rito was not surprised to feel a little hot under the collar himself.

"I see." He said simply, before adding. "The nudity was easy enough to figure out, at least. I'm guessing Peke here ran out of juice, correct?"

"That's right. You're shockingly quick on the uptake." Peke said in wonder, as Rito chuckled and poked himself in the head a couple of times.

"Super brain." Was all he said. Lala's eyes lit up at that bit of Intel.

"Really?! What about your other attributes?! Is everything about you super?!" She questioned him with insatiable infomania.

"As far as I know. My muscles, skin, and senses are all enhanced."

"By how much?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure."

"What about your speed? Do you know how fast you are?"

"I've never actually clocked myself before. I'm not sure I even can, to be honest. Speedometers are kinda useless when you can run faster than the speed of light."

Lala seemed to take that as a challenge. "Oh, I don't know about that. I'm sure I can whip something up that can accurately quantify your speed." She grinned.

Rito's eyebrow rose and he chuckled. "By all means, feel free to try. Honestly, I've always been curious what my limitations are, or, if I even have any."

Lala's smile, if possible, got even bigger. "I'll help you however I can, Rito! It's the least I can do!"

"You don't have to feel obligated to help me simply because I did the right thing."

"I know, but I want to! Please, Rito!" She begged, her pout burning with the fury of a trillion puppies as Rito nodded with a smile. He was touched by her words.

"Alright, if you really want to help me that badly, how could I say no?"

"Yipee!" Lala exclaimed with childlike delight, and despite himself, Rito's heart gave a massive thump in his chest.

'God, she really is cute! It's a shame I turned down Haruna's offer to be my girlfriend last night, because Lala is a lot more tempting now than she would've been if I had time for that kind of nonsense. But alas, a hero's work is never done.' He inwardly mused, flashing back to the short conversation he and Haruna had after he'd confessed his feelings for her.

XXX

Rito smiled in sweet relief upon hearing those words, gratified and touched to know Haruna felt the same way. Haruna, curious why he hadn't said anything, spoke up once more. "So, what now?"

Rito looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"So, are we… um… boyfriend and girlfriend now? Are we going out?" Haruna pressed on, shocked she'd managed to string together even that basic line of questioning.

"I'm sorry, Sairenji, but no. The life I lead is too unpredictable, chaotic, and potentially dangerous for relationships at this moment. I'm honestly struggling to balance it all as it is. Between my duty to the world and my obligation to attend school, my plate is full to the max. Adding a relationship into the mix is not in the cards for me." Rito apologetically replied.

"But then, why…" Haruna broke off, looking somewhat teary-eyed and distraught as Rito heaved an almighty sigh.

"Because I needed to get that off my chest, to tell you how I felt. The fact that you feel the same way means the world, though it does complicate matters a tad as well."

"Oh, I see." Was all Haruna said, trailing off as Rito somehow managed to ruin the single greatest night of her life.

"Not all feelings have to be realized as actions, and just because I have them doesn't mean I have the luxury of being able to act on them. That doesn't mean I plan to live like a monk forever, just that at the present, I can't really spare you as much time and emotional investment as you deserve in a relationship."

"But what if I don't care about that?!" Haruna shouted, gaining more confidence and ire the more she and Rito argued.

"I care, Haruna! You deserve someone who will give you the world, and despite the fact that I can probably bench-press the world, that person's not me, at least not at this point in my life. I'm not saying it's forever, just until I adapt to my routine a bit better, get into the swing of things, you know?"

"You're asking me to wait until you feel you're ready? That's incredibly selfish, Yuuki."

"I know, and if you get sick of me in the meantime, I won't blame you one bit."

"Well-played, we both know that'll never happen. You're… You're an idiot, Yuuki, a selfless, self-sacrificing jerk, but I'm still willing to wait a lifetime for you. I guess that makes us both idiots."

"I guess so, but thank you, anyway, Sairenji. I'll let you know when things change."

"You'd better." She said with a note of finality, before giving a watery chuckle. Rito was shocked when she smiled and kissed him on the cheek before rushing up the walkway leading to her house and closing the door behind her. Rito stood there in a daze for another few minutes before his higher cognitive functions rebooted.

XXX

'That was one of the more painful conversations I've ever had in my life. But it was for the best. I haven't struck enough of a balance in my life yet to make a relationship work.' Rito inwardly mused while giving Lala the grand tour of his home.

"This is the kitchen. It's Mikan's territory and she's super obsessive compulsive about its cleanliness and the way everything is arranged, so don't touch anything." Rito said with a knowing smile, earning a sheepish grin from Lala who had been about to run her hand along the countertops.

"Sorry, I like to be extra thorough in my observations of a new environment, and touch is an important aspect of our many observation tools, amirite?" Lala giggled while backing away slightly.

Rito chuckled. "Anyway, how about I whip you up some fine Earth cuisine? There should be some leftover pizza in the fridge."

Lala's eyes lit up and drool gathered at the corner of her mouth. Rito snorted. "Hey, don't jump the gun before you know if you even like it." He playfully admonished her, grabbing out a few slices wrapped up in foil, putting them on a plate, and nuking them in the microwave.

"Sorry, I guess I am pretty hungry. Who's Mikan, by the way?" Lala curiously inquisitioned with an adorable look on her face.

"My little sister." Rito responded earnestly.

"You have a little sister?! Wait, does she have powers too?!" Lala excitedly shouted, prompting Rito to muffle the sound waves she gave off and shush her slightly.

"Yes, I do, and no, she doesn't. Fair warning, if you want to be her friend, don't ever remind her of that. It's one of the few sore spots Mikan has in regards to me, and almost destroyed our relationship at one point." Rito said with surprising firmness. Lala nodded with zero hesitation, sensing there was a story there but too afraid to ask him to elaborate for now.

"Where is she, now?"

"Where do you think?" Rito snorted with mirth, his earlier firmness thankfully abated as Lala giggled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I guess she'd still be in bed, huh? Ask a silly question. So, do you always rise with the sun?"

"Yep, well, the select few times I've slept in my life, at least."

Lala's eyes widened in shock at that bit of Intel. "You don't sleep?!"

"I seldom need it. I don't really need to eat or breathe any form of air like most creatures, either."

"What do you run on then?"

Rito struck a thinking pose at that. "I suspect I'm massively photosynthetic, more so than any plant, even."

"Even if that were true, it alone doesn't explain the sheer scaling of your capabilities. No amount of sunlight, no matter how direct, could give a person that kind of speed. The energy requirements alone to accelerate by that much would outstrip any star's total energy output by a long shot. If you were wearing a tachyonic matrix of some kind, that would be different, but an organic being moving that quickly unassisted is unheard of." Lala hummed in fascination.

"I'm not ignorant of physics, Lala, merely stating that sunlight seems to be the indirect impetus of my powers, or at least the radical catalyst to something much, much stronger inside of me. I've long suspected the strength I derive from the sun is much greater than the energy of the sun itself."

"That's incredible, Rito! It'll take me a while to get things set up here on Earth, but I'd be more than happy to run some tests on you when we're done here!" Lala excitedly exclaimed while clasping her hands together over her chest, an action that was exceedingly highlighting. Rito swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat, before offering her a smile.

"I'd love that, Lala. Before we get started, however, I do have school to attend in another couple of hours, and I should probably introduce you to Mikan when she wakes up."

Lala, adorable and brilliant as she was, generated question marks above her head and stared at Rito in confusion. "Huh? What is this school you speak of?"

XXX

Sometimes, Zastin really hated his job. He loved most aspects of it, of course. Safeguarding the Princesses of Deviluke, while a full-time job, was the highest of honors, and the greatest of responsibilities. Lala, Nana, and Momo, while a lot to handle, were a pleasure to serve, and Zastin would be more than happy to one day serve the former upon her ascension to the throne for the rest of his days.

It was having to be the bearer of unwelcome news that drove Zastin crazy sometimes, especially with his ill-tempered king. Lala had inherited her Mother's absurdly long fuse, and Nana, while ill-tempered like her Father, had a feminine softness and sensitivity to her that her Father often lacked. Momo scared him, Zastin wouldn't lie, but she was sweet as can be for the most part, at least to one's face and so long as one didn't get in the way of her objectives. All Zastin could do was hope his King was in a good mood as he reluctantly made the call he'd been dreading all night.

A pixelated, shadowy image of his liege appeared on the other side of holographic display, no doubt adding to his already impressive intimidation factor. "Ah, Zastin, you bring news, I trust. My wayward, rebellious daughter has been found, I hope, otherwise I trust you'd not be wasting my precious time with this call." He proclaimed, his voice booming and unnaturally deep, his tone leaving no room for misinterpretation. Zastin saw the unspoken words as effortlessly as though they'd been plastered in neon print above the Galactic King's head. 'You'd better have found her, or else.'

"I have found her, Your Grace." Zastin decided to start off with the one piece of good news first, hoping it might ease the sting a bit.

"Excellent, perhaps I have misjudged your competency with regards to my daughters, Zastin. She's on her way back to where she belongs then, I take it?" Gid said in response, clearly pleased. Zastin was visibly sweating at this point, knowing the next part might not elicit quite so flattering a response.

"About that, Your Majesty. There were some… ahem… complications involved in my efforts to retrieve her…" He hesitantly spoke, his nerves getting the best of him as Gid sighed in obvious frustration.

"I know I'll regret saying this, but speak plainly, Zastin. You happen to have caught me on a good day, luckily for you. So, tell me what happened already!"

"Well, you see, the good news is, we found Lala on the planet Princess Momo once dubbed the Milky Way Ghetto, the one known as Earth. The not-so-good news is that we were unable to retrieve her. It turns out Earth has a self-appointed guardian angel, and he ran interference on her behalf. Lala has decided to stay here on Earth, sire, and to find her desired suitor on her terms. She made her insistence quite plain on that matter."

"Incompetent imbecile. I gave you one job, one, and you couldn't even do that right." Gid paused a moment, before adding. "This guardian angel of Earth does pique my interest, however. Tell me more about him."

Zastin nearly sighed in relief when his king changed the subject, and was all too happy to oblige him. "I don't know much beyond the fact that he's extremely fast and strong, can fly unaided by any form of mechanics and ships, can survive in a vacuum without any form of protection, can dodge and block my sword when I'm going at about 60 percent of my power. He breaks reality, my liege. One minute I was dueling him on this planet, the next we were floating outside the observable universe. Had he not taken pity on me and decided to bring me back with him to the Milky Way, I have no doubt I would've died out there, and no one would've ever found me. Oh, get this, he can blast fire from his eyes, too."

A couple of minutes of silence followed that report as Gid processed the enormity of this information, the familiarity of it striking a chord in his memories. 'I haven't seen abilities like that since…' "Did he give you his name?" He asked aloud while leaning forward on his throne, eager for any information Zastin might have.

"No, but Princess Lala seemed very taken with him, sire, and she gave him a moniker he seemed to really enjoy. She called him Superman."

What happened next was something that would be seared onto Zastin's brain for the rest of his life; Gid Lucione Deviluke, the fabled King of the Universe and the being responsible for uniting a Galaxy riddled with chaos and lawlessness, fell out of his throne with shock. To his credit, he recovered quickly and sat back up while awkwardly clearing his throat a few times, but still, Zastin had to visibly withhold his stupor.

"Thank you, Zastin. That will be all. You've given me a lot to think about." Gid said with a note of finality as Zastin bowed, knowing when he was dismissed and that the conversation was over.

Zastin was left confused by the King's startling reaction to the mere mention of Superman's title, but alas, it appeared he was to be kept out of the loop for now. He was just thankful he hadn't been destroyed, and was excited to tell Lala the good news. It appeared she would be permitted to remain on Earth for the time being, for the King had not explicitly said otherwise. If he had, well, Zastin knew retrieving her against her will would be an insuperable challenge with Superman on the job.

XXX

The Royal Capital of Deviluke was, in essence, a thriving ecumenopolis, prizing some of the most advanced technology, weaponry, and powerful space fleet the universe had ever seen. War ships circled the planet around the clock, reinforcing its already impeccable security, and Devilukean soldiers walked every inch of the planet's surface, keeping the many citizens under a somewhat militant, but not tyrannical regime. Gid had grown weary of maintaining the throne, the massive undertaking and pressures of ruling a galactic kingdom only possible with the support of his beautiful wife.

Sephie was the brains of their little operation, no doubt, while Gid was the muscle. For a long time, that power dynamic had worked, and the galaxy thrived under their joint leadership. But lately, insurrection and chaos began to run rampant once more, and the iron fist Deviluke once ruled with was slowly yet inexorably growing rusty as the more unruly species and planets grew tired of being too afraid of him to act.

Incompetency spread across his ranks as they grew too comfortable and complacent during the uneasy peace that had been established. Zastin was not the only example of this, unfortunately, nor was he the worst. Were it not for his children being capable in their own right, Gid might've fretted about the future security of his royal lineage and of his empire. But they gave him hope.

Lala's mind was simply extraordinary, and more to the point, it seemed to be evolving. The technology he'd reverse-engineered from her endearingly malfunctioning inventions had sling-shot Deviluke's already obscenely advanced technology by hundreds, if not thousands of more years. He felt bad about having to ask her to build weapons for his armada, but it was a necessary evil sometimes.

Gid's continued ability to destroy unruly planets casually was due largely to Lala's genius, for he no longer had the strength to do so, and had grown too small to output that kind of energy. Lala hated it, and Gid didn't blame her one bit, but a show of force was, regrettably, all some of these aliens understood and responded to in a helpful, beneficial way. He was proud of her for having the courage to aid him on this endeavor. In fact, he was just plain proud of her. And then there were her sisters.

Gid felt pride course through his body as only a Father's could. Momo and Nana were not the First Princesses, and therefore not eligible to inherit the throne unless something happened to Lala or she abdicated, but he'd make damn sure they were well looked after, all the same, even if they'd proven they could take care of themselves. Lala could whine about her suitors being total pigs all she wanted, but compared to the assholes who were willing to take Momo and Nana, Lala's suitors looked positively tame by comparison. That said a lot.

Gid found himself in a very difficult position, one where his kingdom would benefit from new leadership while simultaneously being unable to find a suitable husband for Lala. He could simply give the crown to Lala and have her be Queen Regent, but that would result in a war cry, both from outsiders in their kingdom and their own people. Everyone was about tradition, it seemed, and tradition dictates that a male Monarch sit the galactic throne no matter what.

Having something as politically inflammatory as a female monarch sitting the throne alone, at this already delicate stage of his reign, would open the floodgates to mutineers and rebels across the galaxy. He didn't wish for Lala's reign to be marred by such darkness. He wanted only the best for his children, so that they could build the kind of future Gid himself never could. Gid was out of options, however, and rapidly running out of time. Lala's sudden defiance and insistence on marriage for love couldn't have come at a worse time.

And then that fateful call with Zastin occurred, and all other thoughts were driven from Gid's mind as he made his way to the royal bathhouse where his wife loved to luxuriate in her down-time. He saw one of the royal maids going the opposite direction, and shuddered when he saw the hypnotic sway of her breasts.

'No! Stop it! Bad Gid!' He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on anything that would kill his proverbial boner, if he had enough dick left in his diminutive state to even harden. He tried focusing on anything, from the destruction of planets, to the ghastly image of Zastin dancing in a thong… Oh God, he was pretty sure he just killed any chance he had of ever getting an erection again. His eyes suddenly shot open when she bowed, and, with a perverted gleam in his eyes, felt her up at breakneck speeds. The poor brunette Devilukean squealed, but simply closed her eyes and bore it for she knew her king to be like this with all the attractive females on his payroll. If only he wasn't so small, she might've considered being one of his concubines.

As it was, she was all hot and bothered by the time Gid released her from his stranglehold and moved on, no doubt to join his hot, gorgeous wife in the tub. The maid continued to do her part in maintaining the royal palace's upkeep, forgetting the encounter for the time being and planning to relieve herself as soon as she was off for the night.

Gid damn near blasted the door to the royal bath house off its hinges in his excitement over Zastin's call, coupled with his brief sexcapades with one of the many nameless maids in his employ. The royal bath house was ornate and made entirely of a gold-like substance, filled with multicolored water that had adjustable heat settings that felt different for every person using it. There were shells in the massive, tiered water fountain that resembled nacre, and massive hot tubs bubbling and frothing with the same multicolored water-esque liquid.

Sephie Deviluke sat in one of these hot tubs, the froth concealing her perfectly shaped, enormous breasts from view and her signature veil shielding her face. Even with her facial features hidden, however, once could see the mesmerizing, pink aura of diamondiferous beauty radiating off her pale, immaculate skin. Her hair, which was among the pinkest shades Gid had ever seen, cascaded like a waterfall down her body and into the water, framing her obscured face. Even through the veil, Gid could see her smile radiantly in greeting as he made his way over to her.

"Hey, honey. Come to bask in the beauty of your gorgeous wife, have you?" Sephie teased, sitting up straighter and giving him a tantalizing view of her bountiful cleavage.

"Pfft, you wish." Gid scoffed, knowing any other response would only stroke her ego.

Sephie hummed in faux disappointment and sank back down into the depths while Gid stripped naked and back floated in the water with her.

"Such a shame. To what do I owe the honor of this visit, then?" She pouted unbearably cutely, knowing it would drive him mad. Gid felt a stab of guilt hit him that he could no longer participate in amorous activities with her, knowing that Sephie was borderline nymphomaniacal once someone got her motor running. Alas, his shrunken state due to the expenditure of his power limited him in many ways. He was doing everything he could to grow back to his original size, and Lala's technology rendered the use of his organic, natural abilities unnecessary, but it was an excruciatingly slow process.

Their marriage was falling apart, he would be a fool to deny it, but both of them knew that marriages of convenience seldom lasted. He could take solace in the fact that they were separating amicably, even if only unofficially. Sephie and her people were still under the protection of the Devilukean empire, but now that she'd given him three children, they both thought it best to go their separate ways. He and Sephie had different needs, but despite their differences, he'd always respected her, and tried his best not to stray too far from her as far as sex partners went. Besides, they both knew that Sephie's heart, mind, body, and soul always belonged to someone else, someone she couldn't have when she settled for Gid.

Remembering she'd asked him a question, Gideon answered it. "Zacian just called with some mind-bending news. You're not going to believe it, but we've found him, Sephie. We found Superman."

Sephie, much like her husband before her, had a visible and violent reaction to that name. The pink-haired bombshell stood up sharply in her shock and waded rapidly over to Gid, picked him up by the tail, and brought him to her eye level. "Where is he?!" She demanded, the urgency and desperation in her eyes making Gid chuckle inwardly. Oh yeah, she still had it just as bad for this guy as ever.

"On Earth, apparently."

Sephie's eyes widened ever-so-slightly, and Gid smirked. "Yeah, I know, it surprised me as well. To think the most amazing being in the universe originated on that backwater planet."

"Then we must head there at once!" Sephie exclaimed with an excited smile, unable to believe that after all these years, they finally found him.

Gid, sensing his wife's desire and understanding it to a degree, hated that he had to be the voice of reason. "We can't, Sephie. Not yet, at least."

Sephie tilted her head adorably in confusion, looking very much like Lala did and almost crumbling Gid's will right then. "Why not?!" She pouted.

Gid sighed. "Think about it, sweetheart. We have no way of knowing if this version of him has broken the time barrier and met us in the past yet. If we just go bursting in on him with a degree of familiarity that freaks him out, it could put the entire timeline in jeopardy."

"Then we can pretend not to know him yet, just to play it safe!" Sephie suggested, clearly wanting to see him and see him right now. Gid knew his wife always got what she wanted in the end, and if he didn't manage to convince her that keeping their distance was the right thing to do, then she could inadvertently mess up the timeline.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that you'll be able to meet him under the guise of Lala's concerned Mother without jumping his bones?" Gid skeptically questioned her with raised eyebrows.

Sephie sighed in relent. "Ugh, I hate it when you're right! Alright, we'll keep our distance for now, happy?"

"Very. You know, the people of Earth actually have a saying that I find remarkably apt for our current situation. All good things come to those who wait." Gid replied with surprising sageness. Sephie smiled and brought him in for a surprisingly tender hug.

"I suppose delayed gratification will make that moment of reunification all the sweeter. So, how did Zastin come by this information, anyway?" Sephie wondered in an awestruck tone. Gid didn't blame her. Superman tended to have that effect on everyone, even whilst doing the most mundane of tasks. Gid didn't remember him quite as fondly as Sephie did, and until Zastin mentioned him by name, the King of the Universe was quite content with forgetting him altogether, but there was no forgetting the mysterious time traveler who truly saved and united the war-torn galaxy.

"Get this, apparently our runaway daughter found herself on Earth, and Superman is now backing her play on marital autonomy. As if I didn't already have enough problems." Gid grumped, though he was quickly easing comfortably into his wife's bountiful bosom as she damn near smothered him. The size difference would've looked comical to any onlookers, but Gid would've had their heads had he found any peeping Toms.

"Well, if he's backing her play, you might as well give up. We both know that once Superman is on the job, no power in the cosmos is going to stop him." Sephie giggled, like it was a private joke they both shared many times before.

"I think we also both know I'm not about to make it that easy for him. This version of him hasn't grown into all his powers yet, Zastin can attest to that, and I doubt Lala's suitors will take this lying down either. If he wants our daughter's hand, or even to protect her marital autonomy, he'd better be ready to fight for it." Gid snorted.

"Sounds great, dear. Ooh, I can't wait to introduce Superman to Pluteena and the other Charmians. They've never actually met him before!" Sephie cooed with delight. Gid chortled, before he stiffened and shivers ran up and down his spine while Sephie lifted her veil slightly and sensually sucked on the tip of his tail.

It wasn't a blowjob, but it was fucking damn near close.

XXX

"Yo, Rito, you're looking awfully chipper today! Did something good happen?!" Saruyama asked Rito with a suggestive smirk when he got to school that day.

"I'll tell you later." Rito promised him with a fond smile, now decked out in his new school attire which he'd intentionally made several sizes too big. He'd spent the entire two hours he'd been up that morning watching all the news channels for any sign of his heroic exploits the previous evening, and was overjoyed to learn that his identity was still intact.

'Whoever you people are, thank you so much for keeping my secret.' Rito had said while crying tears of joy and relief. It was the small favors and miracles like that, the ones people never failed to undervalue, that were the true heroics, in his modest opinion. His day, which was already off to a fantastic start because of that bit of wondrous news, got even better when Mikan reminded him to increase the size of his clothes, which would only aid him with keeping his secret intact upon his return to school for his second day. Admittedly, things were awkward between him and Haruna, and she avoided him like the plague during school, but that did little to hamper his good spirits. Maybe, in another lifetime, it would have, but Rito was too busy riding on the high of that morning to give a hoot.

Capping off the best morning he'd had in ages was the brief introduction between Lala and Mikan, the former of whom proceeded to bring the latter into a gushing hug, proclaiming Mikan as cute over and over. Rito couldn't disagree with Lala there. He did have a really cute sister.

But seeing Lala enjoy the hell out of those pizza slices was, perhaps, the highlight of his morning, oddly enough. Something about the cat-like eye smile she sported while chewing and swallowing each bite was just so endearing and wholesome. Rito was appalled that anyone would ever want to marry this poor girl just for her looks or the prestige of marrying into her family. How could anyone care about such things when Lala was such a genuinely fun, sweet, and cute soul worthy of wifing up without any of her political acclaim? Honestly, if Rito were in the market, so to speak, he'd seriously consider marrying her just for the sheer fun being with her entailed. She could abdicate the throne, her birthright, and everything she owned, and he wouldn't have cared.

Plus, she was willing to help him learn what his limits are and discover more about himself and his unique physiology, things he'd always wanted to learn but didn't know where to start looking. Why was he like this? Why could he do the things he did? Where did these powers of his come from, and why was he the only one given them?

He'd sought answers to these questions all his life, as had Mikan at one point. More than anything, he wished for the power to share his abilities, if for no other reason than to help Mikan spend her life in his world, the same way he did. It wasn't fair that he got the power to literally change the world a million times over while she got diddly squat. No matter how he tried to spin it so that she got the better deal, no matter how much he sometimes wished he was normal, the fact remained that most people would give anything to be able to do what he did, to make the impact he made, to help the people he helped.

Empowering his fellow human beings only went so far, building them up, inspiring them to be better versions of themselves, these were all remarkable qualities. But it would be disingenuous to imply that Mikan or anyone else could ever be everything he was, not without his direct interference. He was born to be the chosen one, the golden standard, and he was simply better than his fellow humans.

Deep down, that'd always killed Mikan, but not nearly as much as the times when he didn't even want it, fought it, or hid from it. She'd recently accepted his destiny wasn't hers to take, but it was immeasurably difficult for her to come to that realization and he was so proud of her for it. For a 12 year old girl, she was handling her jealousy and envy with more maturity than most adults. He was proud enough to swear to her that if he ever discovered the power to share his without limit, and without any negative consequences befalling those he empowered, she'd be the first human being he permanently rewrote the biology of.

Because the truth was, it was lonely being the world's only Superman, and he'd give anything to have others like him. He no longer wanted to be like everyone else, another difficult journey of spiritual growth, but he still harbored the desire to build others up to his standard. It didn't have to be everyone, and certainly not all at once, just the people who mattered most to him.

And if Lala could help him find some of the answers he sought, then all the better for it. She was a lot smarter than even he was, loathed though he was to admit it with his super brain and all. Charmian and Devilukean hybrids made for a lethal combo.

"Mister Yuuki! Perhaps you can tell me what things are not made of atoms, since you seem confident enough to not pay attention in class?!" The teacher suddenly interjected, breaking Rito's reverie as the teenager smiled.

"Energy, Fundamental Particles, abstract concepts, and thoughts and ideas." He answered immediately, earning a sigh from the teacher and impressed stares from the rest of the class. Rito offered them all a sheepish smile, not particularly bothered by this kind of attention. His freakish academic achievements were well-established at this point, even without the superpowers.

"Right again, as always. I know this is all probably rehashing stuff you've already learned, but please at least try and look like you're paying attention. You never know when you might learn something you didn't know before, even among the trivia you've gone over a thousand times." The teacher sighed, and honestly, Rito actually agreed with him on that point. Knowledge and insight were superpowers in their own right.

"Sorry about that. You're right, I should've been paying closer attention. My mind just happened to wander. It won't happen again!" Rito apologetically reassured the man, who simply nodded and got right back to his lecture.

After that mildly embarrassing but not altogether unpleasant class, Saruyama and Rito were walking together in the hallways. "Alright, so spill. What's got you on cloud nine today?!" His best friend interrogated him. Rito sighed with a fond smile and was about to illuminate Saruyama when a familiar female voice spoke his name loud and clear enough to resonate through the hallway.

"Rito?! Where are you?!" Lala questioningly exclaimed in plain view of dozens of heart-eyed male students, walking past them without acknowledging them in the slightest.

Rito rolled his eyes good-naturedly, wishing she'd be a little less outlandish in her style of clothing and her tail. Ugh, that tail was going to be a problem, he'd need to fix that. "I'm over here, Lala!" He called back to her in response, deciding it best to just bite the bullet and grab her attention since she already came all this way.

Lala's eyes seemed to light up as she rushed over to them, blissfully unaware of Saruyama's nonplussed countenance. "Oh, Rito, I found you!" She said with her usual energy and perky smile.

"Care to explain why you followed me here?" Rito asked her calmly, pointedly ignoring the crowd of onlookers shamelessly eavesdropping while placing his hands gently on her shoulders.

"I was curious about this whole school thing, so I came to see what this place was about!" She exclaimed with all the exuberance of an excited child. Rito smiled despite his frustration with her sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Hey, Rito… w-who is she?! Hehe-ho-how do you know her, where is she…?" Saruyama broke off, unable to formulate a fully coherent sentence in the face of such a gorgeous woman.

"She's a friend from my neck of the woods, so to speak." Rito responded coolly while glancing at Saruyama with significance and while aware of the onlookers. The pervert wasn't his childhood bestie for nothing, and picked up on the subtle subtext underlying Rito's statement with all the expertise of a master wordsmith. It was a shame he couldn't apply that kind of energy in their actual literature class, because he'd perform as well as Rito himself did if he could.

"Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before you made friends from out there." Saruyama said with a knowing smile while holding out his hand to shake Lala's. "Nice to meet you. Lala, was it? Rito and I go way back. My name is Saruyama."

Lala beamed and shook his hand with glee. "Nice to meet you! Rito helped me out of a really messy situation last night, and I couldn't be more thankful!"

Saruyama chuckled. "Figures he'd neglect to mention making such a pretty new friend to his main man. Damn, Rito, way to hold out on me!"

"In my defense, I only just met her last night."

"You two are awfully chummy for a one-night-stand."

"Can you not?!"

Lala laughed out loud at seeing their exchange. "You two really are best friends, huh? Honestly, I'm kind of envious!" She whispered the last part, remembering the crybaby childhood friend she'd made in a fellow prince, er… princess of a neighboring planet. But her connection with that individual didn't hold a candle to these two. She couldn't even remember his… her? Name. Aside from that person and her sisters, Lala didn't have many permanent fixtures to speak of in her life, or at least not ones around her age.

Saruyama suddenly turned to the gaggle of guys still staring with a heated glare. "What are y'all still looking at?! Get the hell outta here! There's nothing to see here, only two new friends hitting it off, so scram!"

It was times like this that Rito really appreciated his friend, because when the crowd began to disperse, he let go of a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Lala saw this as well, and in a bold move of compassion, took his hand in hers while throwing him a comforting smile. Rito smiled back, despite his former unease with the crowd.

"We should do something about that tail of yours." Rito spoke suddenly, his eyes flashing through a kaleidoscope of impossible colors spanning the trillions of invisible spectrums he could see as Lala's tail suddenly and without warning disappeared.

Lala's eyes widened as she spun around, trying to find it. "What did you do?!" She asked as she rounded on him, while Saruyama merely grinned.

"Damn, I forgot about that one!" He whistled appreciatively, while Lala merely looked on in confusion.

"I shifted your tail through trillions of invisibility spectrums, making it impossible for anyone other than me to see it."

"That's so cool! I can still feel it, but I can't see it! I take it this method is impervious to all the normal methods of detecting invisible wavelengths." She whispered in a dreamy, awestruck voice of fascination.

Rito nodded with a smile. "That's right. Your tail is literally a trillion invisibility spectrums removed from the one most beings can detect, making it peerlessly unseeable and undetectable by any means, including neutrino and gravitational wave detectors. I've managed to successfully keep my secret my entire life, and I can't have you exposing us both in a single day now, can I?" He playfully admonished her, earning a sheepish smile from her in turn.

"His cloak is perfect… no tachyon emissions, no residual antiprotons." Saruyama grinned.

"Seriously, you're quoting Star Trek now?" Rito deadpanned.

"Do the impossible, see the invisible, row row, fight the power~!" Saruyama continued undeterred with a grin.

"Touch the untouchable, break the unbreakable, row row, fight the power~!" Rito fired back with just as much zeal, surprising Lala. "Man, I really gotta catch up on that show!" He added with a grin.

"Yeah, I've still got that list of Anime for you to watch whenever you find the time, man. But seriously, though, I'm curious if even those guys, with their Spiral Power, would be able to see your lady friend's tail as it is now." Saruyama grinned suggestively, earning the classic eye roll from Rito.

"She's not my lady friend, just a friend who happens to be a girl." Rito groaned, while Lala grew a somewhat sad look that Rito missed but Saruyama spotted.

'Hmm, interesting. I think she's got more than friendship on her mind where you're concerned, old friend, but I'll let you figure that one out for yourself.' Saruyama sagely thought.

The bell suddenly rang, indicating the start of the next period as Rito turned to Lala. "Well, that's our next class. I'll see you after, okay? Why don't you go ahead and get your gizmos set up for our arrangement while you wait?"

"Okay! Sounds good! I'll make sure to whip up some fancy new toys!" Lala excitedly exclaimed while skipping along her merry way, leaving Rito and Saruyama behind to make it to their next class with all due haste.

XXX

"I'm home!" Rito called out to Mikan, Lala, and Zastin while walking through the front door, having heard the latter's strong, sturdy heartbeat from thousands of miles away. He came into the living room and saw Mikan and Zastin watching a news program.

"Welcome back to the number one news channel on all things Blur-related. We just received word that earlier this evening, the Gilded Blur stopped a tsunami off the Indian coastline, melted an avalanche about to bury a Himalayan village, regrew a sizable portion of the Amazon Rainforest in a matter of minutes, and even fed starving children in Africa and other poor countries! This person is singlehandedly saving the world, and has done more for it in a few years than the bulk of humanity has in centuries. What would we do without him?" The news reporter, an attractive raven-haired woman with glasses, spoke with exuberance on Rito's behalf, earning a smile and a blush from him in turn as he walked in.

"I'm very proud of you, Rito." Mikan said with a dazzling smile, which only reinforced Rito's blushing smile. "There's only so many hours in the day! It certainly puts my life into sharp relief." She added with the slightest traces of envy. Rito's heart squeezed a little at that last part.

"Indeed. This world doesn't deserve you, if you want my honest input." Zastin remarked with admiration.

"Does any world really?" Mikan asked him.

"Fair point." Zastin conceded, having made himself surprisingly cozy in their living room despite his armor.

"Where's Lala?" Rito idly wondered.

"In your room, getting her lab set up for these tests she's planning to run on you." Mikan said, earning a look of confusion from Rito.

"Huh?"

"Don't ask me. All she said was something about dimensional engineering and to tell you to wait a little bit." Mikan replied with a shrug. Rito's eyes widened in amazement, before his attention was dragged back to the news program.

"He's doing God's work, if you ask me! Literally, this Gilded Blur is like a modern-day Messiah." One of the interviewees gushed with fondness and praise over Rito's exploits.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far." Rito sighed, knowing that idolaters were inevitable in his line of work. It still made him uncomfortable, however.

"I'm not sure I feel comfortable with depending upon the kindness of freaks and monsters. What if he decided to turn on us one day? With everything this Gilded Blur can do, who could stop him?" Another, less flattering person spoke during their time in the limelight. He'd dealt with his fair share of skeptics, enough that it didn't even really bother him anymore. Haters be hatin', as Saruyama said. However, there was one thing this person said that irked him.

"It's Superman! Damn, I really need to find a way to leak that somehow, ideally without giving myself away!" Rito exclaimed, earning surprised looks from Mikan and Zastin alike.

Rito blushed before hastening to explain. "It's the name Lala gave me, and for some weird reason, it means a lot to me. It's also objectively better than anything I've managed to come up with so far, and clearly better than anyone else's attempts as well."

Mikan grinned knowingly, a look Rito knew well and hated. "I think somebody's infatuated with our renegade alien princess." She teased.

"Am not!" Rito childishly exclaimed.

Zastin, however, hummed musingly as this new piece of Intel came to light. He couldn't help but think back to earlier that afternoon, when he and Lala grilled Mikan for as much Intel on her fascinating older brother as she could provide.

XXX

"So, this is the home and bedroom of the almighty Superman? I'm surprised by how quaint it is." Zastin noted with surprise as he stepped through the window to the person's bedroom. He was surprised there wasn't any manner of security, but with someone like Superman watching over the property, this was probably still the safest house on this entire planet, maybe even in the entire cosmos.

Curiosity got the better of him as he decided to snoop around, only for the door to suddenly slam open and for a small brunette human to barge in while holding a firearm that was suspiciously advanced compared to the metallic projectile-based guns found on this planet.

"Who are you, and why are you in my brother's room?!" The little firecracker demanded, holding the frightening-looking firearm with surprising skill and deftness. Clearly, Superman had instructed her in basic weapons handling, but at least that solved the mystery of who this person was.

"I come in peace, little one, but even if I didn't, I'm not sure you realize who I am. I doubt your little toy could hurt me, in all frankness." Zastin replied in what he hoped wasn't too condescending a tone.

The girl, surprisingly enough, smirked. "This is one of my Brother's inventions. He said it was to protect me when he wasn't around, and I always scoffed at him for being so paranoid. Now, however, I'm glad he was. It's called a Gravity Gun, and can increase one's personal gravity by 500 times or more. The maximum setting is a billion times, but I've never actually had to use it before. How about we test this thing out at the highest possible level and see if you're still able to stand?"

"Don't shoot!" Zastin screamed like a little girl in a panic as he immediately put his hands in the air, instantly surrendering to a little sister who put Momo Deviluke to shame in the danger department. How stupid of him, of course someone like Superman would never leave his own kin without a defense mechanism. Something did strike him as odd, however.

"You don't have his powers." He noted with surprise, nearly pissing himself when the girl's glare grew positively demonic and she hoisted the gun up so it was level with his face.

"Choose your next words very carefully, Devilukean!" She hissed, and even someone as clueless as Zastin could tell he'd hit a particularly sensitive nerve.

"I'm… sorry…" He said with genuine sympathy. "Believe it or not, I know what it's like to feel constantly overshadowed." He added, thinking about how his Liege and even his kids outranked and outperformed him in every category. He honestly questioned why they even needed him sometimes, or bothered putting up with him when he often failed to produce results.

"Don't compare your situation with mine. Your older brother isn't the most amazing being in the entire universe." The girl growled, though she'd thankfully lowered her terrifying weapon.

"Fair enough." Zastin conceded. "I apologize for intruding upon your home like this. I was merely hoping to better acquaint myself with the home and kin of the man who bested me in combat. If you want, I can leave." He added.

The girl shook her head, placing her weapon in some kind of pocket dimension that fascinated Zastin to no end, making him wonder if Superman arranged that for her. He found himself morbidly curious about what other weapons she could've had stored in there, but wasn't keen on finding out the hard way. "It's fine, you just scared me, is all. I've actually had the pleasure of meeting your world's first Princess earlier today. She's a real sweetie, honestly. How about we find somewhere other than my Brother's room to talk, though, alright?" She suggested.

Zastin nodded. "Sounds lovely… Um…" He paused, trying to recall if she mentioned her name or not yet.

The girl sweatdropped, astutely deducing he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box. "My name is Mikan."

"Zastin." He greeted, returning the favor as he followed Mikan out of her brother's room and down the hall leading to a flight of stairs.

He looked around him in fascination, surprised once more by the quaintness of this place.

Mikan must've known what he was thinking, because she giggled. "My Brother has never used his power for his own financial gain, so this is the same house we grew up in together. He says he enjoys its modesty, but in all frankness, I wouldn't mind a bigger kitchen. Even that pocket dimension where I store all of my weapons is for emergencies only." She explained.

"And your parents?" Zastin asked, hoping he wasn't touching another nerve with his line of questioning.

To his relief, Mikan laughed. "They come around when they can, but their jobs keep them pretty busy. My Dad is a Mangaka, and my Mom is a fashion designer and a scout for fashion models. She often works overseas, but Rito takes me anywhere on Earth I want to go instantly, so visiting her is not an issue. I see my Dad to clean up his Manga Studio every couple of weeks, so we don't miss our parents much. To be frank with you, Zastin, I actually quite enjoy the freedom and independence that comes with living with just Rito. For the longest time, it's been just the two of us, but I'm so glad he's finally letting more people into his life."

Zastin was glad he finally had Superman's proper name, and filed it away in his memory for future reference. "I'm surprised they're as hands off as they are, given how much their son has to contend with on a daily basis."

Mikan had an answer for that, too. "That was actually Rito's doing. They were prepared to give up their dreams to raise us, but he wouldn't hear of it. He encouraged them to follow their passions in life, and that he was plenty responsible enough to take care of things at home. He's always been like that, selfless, all-giving, and willing to do whatever it takes to make the people closest to him happy. But there are laws against leaving a minor under a certain age on their own, so they had to wait until he was 12 before they could leave us home alone together."

They'd reached the living room at last, and Mikan took her usual spot on the opposite side of the couch from where Rito usually sat. Zastin promptly plonked down on Rito's spot, mulling over the information Mikan had given him. "It sounds to me like you really admire him." He noted.

Mikan blushed. "I think the world of Rito, despite everything… despite not inheriting the same powers. I would do anything for him. Anything." She whispered.

"I'm beginning to suspect that whatever gave your brother his powers was not inherent." Zastin said in an even, measured voice, carefully gauging her reaction and wanting to avoid a repeat of their earlier confrontation.

"What else could it be, though?" Mikan wondered despondently.

"I have a theory, but I'll need more information to confirm it."

"Such as?"

"What was the exact date of his birth?"

"October 16th, 2008, at 2:29 AM." Mikan replied, surprised when Zastin's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

"Is that date significant?!" She asked eagerly, leaning closer to Zastin.

"It all but confirms my suspicions. You see, Mikan, 16 years ago, at the exact date and time Rito Yuuki was born, an alert went out to the Milky Way that Sagittarius A was behaving very erratically, and building up massive energy that no one can explain the origin of, energy on par with the birth of the universe, maybe even beyond it."

Mikan's eyes widened as she processed this mind-fucking information. "And the reason we're not all doing the ethereal backstroke in the universe's corpse is because why, exactly?"

"I'm not sure, honestly. Everyone feared the end was near, but thankfully, it appeared to be a false alarm, or so we thought. Someway, somehow, I think that blast of energy did occur, only it concentrated all its power within your Brother upon his birth."

"Why, though?"

"Why, indeed? Perhaps it chose him for a higher purpose."

Mikan didn't get the chance to say anything more before the front door blew open and Lala eagerly came barreling in with all the subtlety of a rampaging sauropod. "I'm back! I hope you don't mind, but I was hoping you might let me have access to Rito's roo…" Lala broke off when she saw Mikan's guest. "Zastin, what are you doing here… and why do you guys look so serious?"

"Princess Lala, I was just discussing the matter of Superman with his exceedingly charming younger sister."

"Well, I don't know about charming." Mikan stammered with a slight blush, not unaccustomed to praise since Rito showered her with it all the time, but still somewhat embarrassed by it.

"Ooh, you're talking about Rito?! I wanna know more about him too! Tell me everything!" Lala eagerly squealed as she comfortably nestled herself between Zastin and the brunette on the already overcrowded couch.

It didn't take them long to bring Lala up to speed on their latest working theory and everything else they discussed. "Hmm, that makes sense, though it does spit in the face of pretty much every conservation law we can think of. Where would all that extra energy have come from?"

"Aren't supermassive black holes the strongest sources of energy in the universe, though?" Mikan wondered, not exactly an expert on astrophysics, but certainly fascinated enough with the subject given her Brother's exotic nature.

"Yes, but not strong enough to outstrip the energy from the Big Bang like Zastin here claimed it did. They say black holes can sometimes serve as gateways to other dimensions, assuming you manage to survive spaghettification and achieve escape velocity, that is. Perhaps we need to start considering the possibility that Rito's origins might be a lot further from home than even we can shake a stick at." Lala replied, putting that amazing mind of hers to work before she grew an eager smile. "You've both given me a lot to ponder, but I'd love to run some tests on Rito in the hopes of ascertaining some of the theories I've been working with as well. To that end, Mikan, I was hoping you'd let me have access to his room, so I can set up my lab."

"How do you intend to do that? Rito's bedroom isn't exactly big enough to house a full-sized laboratory." Mikan pointed out the obvious flaw in her plan, but to her surprise, Lala merely smiled wider.

"Dimensional engineering."

"You can engineer dimensions?! I thought only Rito could do that."

"Rito may be able to, but I can as well, albeit likely in a way that more rigidly adheres to the structures and limitations of our universe."

Mikan shrugged. "Alright, go ahead, I guess. If Rito minds, he can always move it elsewhere in the house."

"Yayy!" Lala squealed in delight while bringing Mikan in for another of her adoring hugs before rushing off to complete the task she'd set out to do.

Mikan sighed before looking onward with a fond smile. "It's sweet how devoted she is to helping my Brother figure out the answers to his biggest questions. Maybe he'll finally see sense and marry her. He could do a whole lot worse from what I've seen."

This got Zastin's attention. "Has he ever been in a relationship before?"

Mikan shook her head sadly. "No, we've tried encouraging him to pursue someone, and he does have his eye on someone, but he's convinced himself that he's better off alone until he finds the right balance in his life."

"Ah, that's fair enough, I suppose, though I've gotta be frank with you, Mikan, I wouldn't mind having him as my future liege either. That's his choice, however, and Lala has made it quite plain she won't force him into anything he's uncomfortable with. You have no idea how difficult it was for her to do that, especially since Master Rito is the best hope she has for finding a suitable husband to sit the throne of Deviluke. Perhaps, if fate had not chosen Rito for a higher calling, they could've been something more."

"Maybe they still can be. My Brother has a knack for defying the fates and beating all the odds, and Lala doesn't strike me as the type of girl who fails to get what she desires in the end."

"Oh, you have no idea." Zastin chuckled, wincing in fond remembrance of all the times the Princess had gotten precisely that over the course of her lifetime. He would be astounded if she didn't have Rito completely enveloped around her finger by the time the week was up.

XXX

Mikan hadn't expected the sick day she'd taken off school to start with Rito bringing a runaway Alien Princess into their home or for a very official-looking Devilukean to break into his room and rifle through his things, but somehow that was exactly what the day entailed. There were days when Mikan needed a break from the usual monotony that was her school to catch up on chores or help her Dad. She'd been playing fast and loose with her attendance ever since she started doing what she could to step up while her big brother saved the world.

Rito disapproved, of course, the goofy rule stickler, but he didn't say anything so long as Mikan kept up with her studies, which of course, she did. In fact, Mikan's academic performance was almost as impressive as her Brother's, and often pushed herself and her perfectionism to the limit trying to rise to his impossible standards any way she could. Everyday of her young life was spent training her body, mind, and soul, hoping she might one day be ready to gain the same powers her Brother had without it overwhelming her, assuming he ever acquired the ability to do so.

Somehow, despite possessing more than a Centillion superpowers, the ability to fully share them with any number of beings was not on that beyond extensive list. Rito could blast fire from his eyes, hear through the vacuum of space, create thousands of tiny versions of himself that possessed all his powers, see a person's soul, had like a trillion different kinds of vision, could fly, warp reality, control nearly all forms of kinetic energy, stop time completely and across the infinite temporal dimensions of the entire universe, freeze ghosts with his ice breath, somehow grow stronger with an Avatar State level power-up when he was particularly desperate to protect someone, extend his bioelectric aura to sufficient proportions to toe fucking planets, and God knows what else. It was honestly more shocking that he didn't possess unlimited or at least enhanced power sharing at this point.

'Not to mention unfair.' Mikan huffed, well aware of her jealousy and accepting it at this point. That did not mean she would let it ruin her relationship with her Brother, whom she had grown to love more than air. It was true, she spent the first few years of their relationship being spiteful, mean, and generally an ass, for something he couldn't control any better than she could. Even so, he continued to have the patience of a saint with her, always holding her close when she grew particularly terrified of thunderstorms, bathing with her when they were little, teaching her how to cook, letting her take on more and more responsibility in the household, giving her the tools and the weaponry necessary to protect herself from most threats in any event where he wasn't there, and being the absolute best big brother anyone could ever ask for.

Why did he have to be so nice?! That was the part that drove her younger self crazier than anything else. Her Brother was, quite literally, impossible to hate. Overtime, Mikan began to warm up to him, to be nicer to him, until eventually, she found herself stuck in her current situation where she loved him far, far more than a little sister should love her older brother. It could've been a combination of hero worship for all the times she'd seen him save somebody on the news, pride beyond words for having the most amazing being in the universe for a big brother, and a healthy amount of lust brought on by her recent sexual development, but Rito went from someone she hated, to someone she tolerated, to someone she loved, and finally, someone she was in love and lust with, all in the span of 12 years.

She'd had these feelings for over a year, and knew they were wrong and extremely taboo, if not outright illegal. Yet, somehow, that just made the whole situation hotter. He was her first bestie, and now, he was her first serious crush. It drove her mad with endless longing, and all she could do was hope they went away as she got older and her hormones stabilized. Because what were the odds he felt the same way? Rito, the ultimate boy scout, the golden standard for gentlemanliness and everything good and decent in the world, would never be caught dead doing something so… shameless, would he?

There were definitely moments when she questioned his incorruptibility, however, and as messed up as that sounded, those rare moments when he proved to be not as infallible as she naively believed gave her hope that something might one day happen between them. It certainly didn't hurt that Rito didn't conform to any one culture's way of thinking 100 percent, and that he embraced all the races and countries of the world and beyond. Perhaps he would one day rise above his Earthly way of thinking, to, at least insofar as his relationships were concerned.

Mikan was a lot of things; Zastin had learned a painful lesson that even when Superman was not around, she was far from defenceless. But more than anything else, she was a little sister, and she had the best big brother in the universe. Hopefully, in time, more people would see how great he was, the way she had when she finally stopped despising him.

XXX

"Lala, I'm coming in now." Rito's voice ran out clear as a bell as he opened the door to his bedroom, expecting to be greeted with dimensional expansions he'd only ever achieved in fleeting experimentations with his reality warping, but was surprised and disappointed when it remained unchanged.

"Hey Rito! Open your closet!" Lala eagerly called out to him with an echoic overlay, as though speaking to him over huge distances or from inside an enormous and vacant room. Rito's impeccable hearing was able to tell she was indeed speaking to him from inside his closet, and grew a manic grin as he pulled the door to it open, his metallic golden eyes lighting up with fascination as he stepped into another world.

He idly noted the modified clothes hanger Lala had arranged to hang his clothing on somewhat further in the entranceway, and position away from the door itself. Rito smiled when he saw she'd left his immaculate arrangement by size and color perfectly intact, merely moved to open up the space in the entrance more.

He walked past it into a massive pocket dimension that scaled in size to the largest particle physics labs he'd ever seen, noting it's dome-like interior, the massive superlaser jutting out of the roof, the massive green button-resembling contraption in the middle of the floor with the silver tubular energy converter extending out from it, the massive quantum computer with a multicolored panels on the monitor's gigapixel display and the massive keyboard, and the yellow bin filled the the rim with inventions and even weapons.

Lala stood off to the side somewhat, looming over a table with a bunch of elaborate-looking parts haphazardly strewn together into half-finished inventions, clearly building something as Rito approached her. He could smell and see the impressively dense tachyons she was harnessing from his current position, watching her work on a truly impressive specimen of a speedometer that looked like it would fit his wrist perfectly.

"I just gotta increase the tachyonic density and anti-entropy properties higher than any device currently in use by the Devilukean Empire and then harness their energy, while packing it all inside a device. Adjusting for Zero Point Energy Decay and Hyperluminal Particle Breakdown at their highest and lowest recorded levels. Simple enough, really. While I'm at it, I should borrow dimensional energy from the universe's vast array of infinite spatial dimensions to make the interior of this speedometer big enough to hold all of this complete gadgetry." Lala thought aloud while operating some sort of universal tool to more effectively put her inventions together.

Not for the first time, Rito absolutely marveled at the pink-haired beauty's incredible mind. Lala was far and away the smartest person he'd ever met, by a long shot, and moments like this just made her brilliance all the more readily apparent. "You're really going all in with this speedometer idea, huh?" He chuckled endearingly as Lala giggled without looking back at him over her shoulder.

"I really want this thing to work, and programming it to accurately quantify astronomically large numbers and speeds takes a lot of fancy technical upgrades most wouldn't consider worth the trouble with something as plain as a speedometer. But I promised I would help you however I can, and I'm curious what your limits are as well." Lala sweetly replied. Rito fought the urge to blush through his whole body, touched by her words and how far she was going.

He could see her lightly perspired body as she worked herself to the limit trying to help him, and he couldn't be more grateful. "I look forward to testing it out, Lala. I assume you have a way to convert this lab's spatial dimensions and layout as well to make running easier." Rito astutely deduced, and Lala nodded, turning around to face him at last while brushing some stray strands of sweat-coated hair out of her face.

"Yes, actually! That was my plan! I can program my lab to simulate almost any environment, and have drawn power from the infinite spatial dimensions of the universe to imbue it with limitless data. I could program an infinite universe for you to run across if I wanted." She explained while adding with an adorable smile. "But enough about that! Say hello to my latest invention, Mister Speedy Gauge!"

She held out the device in question for him to examine as Rito did just that and gently took it from her, an adoring smile lighting up his face as he noted its pinkness and the derpy smiley face drawn above its numerical indication screen. "I love it, Lala! It's so quintessentially you!"

Lala beamed most dazzlingly, prompting Rito to try and fail to hold back his blush. "Thank you! I was able to program it to calculate speeds of up to a centillion gigaparsecs per nanosecond. Hopefully that'll be enough, but if it should not be, and I suspect it won't be, I'll be more than happy to build higher limitations into it. I wanted to start with a baseline to gauge your speed first, and have already started creating schematics for obscenely heavy apparatuses to gauge your strength."

Rito's eyes widened in astonishment. "A centillion gigaparsecs per nanosecond?! Lala, isn't that overkill?!"

Lala shook her head. "Not really. If anything, I strongly suspect it's nowhere near your maximum, but it's a good enough baseline to start with for now."

She got right in his face, her eager expression and the way she bounced causing a certain part of her body to jiggle exceedingly sensually. "So, what do you say?! Ready to test this bad boy out?!"

Rito smiled despite being hyper-aware of how close she was, and how their chests and bodies were almost touching. "I was born ready!" He exclaimed, before fastening the device to his wrist with zero hesitation.

Lala stepped back, blissfully oblivious to how flustered her close proximity had made him as she spoke aloud to the room at large. "Computer, bring up simulation number thirty nine thousand and six, codenamed Mister Rainbow Racetrack!"

Rito watched in wonder as his surroundings almost instantly transmogrified into a colossal, floating racetrack through outer space composed of light-emitting rainbow pavement, with a celestial backdrop of stars and even fully luminous galaxies forming a supercluster the size of the Corona Borealis Great Wall.

"You totally stole this from Mario Kart." Rito playfully admonished her.

"I can assure you, I have no idea what you're talking about." Lala replied with a suspiciously innocent expression.

Rito laughed while casting his gaze to and fro. "I will say that the sheer scale of this place puts any video game or simulated reality I've seen to complete shame."

Lala positively preened like the galaxy's pizzazziest peacock at the praise and disappeared, reappearing above a set of bleachers overlooking the start of the race track. "I've given you hundreds of trillions of light-years of racetrack to run on and to test your maneuverability on. This road bends and twists at weird angles, even going completely upside down and forming loop-dee-loops, so I wouldn't advise decelerating too much if you don't want to fall off. I'd also recommend being surefooted, because I may have set up some obstacle courses for you as well." She giggled while throwing him a cheeky wink. Rito chuckled good-naturedly and got himself situated at the ornate starting line Lala had built into the program for him.

"One more thing." Lala suddenly spoke up once more, grabbing his undivided attention with hardly any effort. "I programmed the speedometer to track your speeds and send the information back to me through my supercomputer, so even if the device fails, I'll still hopefully have a proper recording of your velocities. But enough idle gib, on your marks, get set, GO!" She shouted the last part while waving a flag.

Rito took off without any preamble, holding far less back with his speed than he usually did out of pure faith in Lala's ability to properly contain the adverse effects of his running. He moved fast enough for the light and colors of the road beneath his feet to be trapped in temporal dilation, moving faster than he'd ever gone before and producing an endless blurring effect behind himself. The stars and galaxies in the distance went dark as the light from them took an eternity to reach him. Only when he was racing directly overtop of them did he see them again, as the road stretched across their entire faces, forming a kind of dyson sphere around hypergiant stars and ultramassive black holes that somehow empowered him further despite being merely simulations.

He ran faster than he'd ever gone before, faster than anyone on Earth had ever dreamt of, faster than even he thought was possible. The road took him straight to the singularity of a stupendously large black hole at the center of the web of galactic superclusters and filaments, his eyes widening when it didn't even slow him down or spaghettify him. If anything, it sped him up and seemed to amplify his power beyond quantification. Lala was fucking crazy, programming such convincingly lifelike and massive black holes into her simulation, but Rito merely laughed it off and bested every obstacle course she threw at him.

Asteroid belt made of space diamonds? Rito fragmentized them all on contact. Molten core of a sun? Hah, mere bathwater to him, and almost as invigorating for him as any actual star. All of these obstacle courses were nothing of the kind, and many actually somehow furthered his power, boosted his speed beyond imagining. He laughed at the sheer absurdity of it all, the rush of power giving him an omnipotent buzz. It was beyond addictive.

By the time he crossed the finish line for the centillionth time, every cell in his body was glowing like Planck mass quasars and Lala appeared to not have moved at all in her entire relativistic perpetuity. Rito figured he'd given her enough data to work with, however, and looked down at his speedometer bracelet, only to find the words ERROR staring at him in bold caps lock. He promptly sweatdropped.

"So, um… I think I broke your device, Lala, but I'm done." He sheepishly admitted while making his way to her.

Lala's eyes promptly widened upon seeing him standing there. "You're done already?! You literally just started!"

Rito snickered. "Yeah, hate to break it to ya, but I did a centillion full laps around the entire road. Kudos to you for the obstacle courses, by the way. They were almost as potent as the real deal. I did learn something new, however. Apparently, the simulated black holes, suns, and stars all empower me almost as much as their real-world models. I also didn't know I was empowered by black holes until today, so that's already one new thing about me I've learned thanks to you."

Lala grew a manic smile at the enormity of the first part of his statement, and promptly ended the simulation before rushing to her computer screen. "If you've done that many laps, then Mister Speedy Gauge ought to have sent the information along to my computer here, even if it couldn't handle your speed." She paused before adding. "Black holes are usually just stars and other heavenly bodies compressed into a state of infinite density. It doesn't surprise me that they empower you too, to be frank. In fact, I was counting on it. Do really large black holes give you more energy than stars?"

Rito nodded, shocked she'd already figured that much out.

"Yes, by orders of magnitude beyond imagining. I feel like I could fly to the ends of the unobservable universe and back a centillion times in the same instant without getting tired."

Lala giggled excitedly. "That's amazing, Rito! You can do so much! Based on these readings, you broke the cap built into the speedometer. My computer can't tell how much you broke that limit by either. Some fine-tuning will be required to accurately gauge your speed, but this is a fantastic start, and like you said, we learned something new about your powers!"

Rito snorted. "You're awfully chipper for someone who has to go back to the proverbial drawing board."

"The tougher something is, the more I want to achieve it." Lala grinned back at him.

"Me too." Rito fired back at her with zeal.

His emotions suddenly overwhelmed him as he brought Lala into a hug, surprising her with the sudden contact as he whispered thanks repeatedly. "No problem. I'm just happy to help!" She whispered back just as fondly, blushing slightly and trying not to let her heart soar at the realization that Rito was hugging her.

Rito recovered from his emotional outburst and pulled away, sniffing slightly as he willed himself not to cry. "This means a lot to me, Lala. Truly, if there is anything I can do to repay you, please, don't hesitate."

"Marry me." Lala responded in a voice barely above a whisper before she could stop herself. Rito's eyes widened, his super hearing making it impossible for her life-altering words to have gone unnoticed.

Lala almost wanted to take back her words or say she was kidding, but the truth behind them was painfully clear to both individuals present. She wanted to marry Rito Yuuki, she wanted to marry Superman and all that such entailed, and had been holding herself back for his sake since the moment they met last night and he changed her life forever.

Rito looked at a loss for what to say, so Lala spoke enough to drown out the soul-crushingly tense silence. "I know we barely know each other and have only just met. I know I ask and presume much! But marrying you is something I've never been surer of, all the same. You were willing to risk open war with the Devilukean Empire on my behalf, despite barely knowing me or my motives for running away. You beat Zastin in my defense, and have proven to me beyond a doubt that you're sweet, kind, and strong, not because of your powers, but because of your heart. I didn't name you Superman because of what you can do, I called you it because it's who you are!"

"Marrying someone like that would be an honor, and a privilege that I'd regret for the rest of my life for not taking. You're the best of the best when it comes to potential marriage candidates, and call me a selfish and entitled brat of a princess, but I want nothing short of the best. I know this complicates things for you, especially with how Earthlings view relationships, but I'm willing to share you with as many women as you're willing to take as your wives and concubines. I'll bring everything I have and more to the table in order to make this work, and step up to the best of my ability. I'll gladly rise to any standards, expectations, hopes, dreams, and even fetishes and kinks you have. I also know that you're probably kept very busy with all your work as Superman and can't always spare as much time for relationships as you feel is necessary, but I have no doubt if anyone can do what you do and make everything work out in the end, it's you, Yuuki Rito. So, what say you? Will you have me?!"

Lala was bowing at this point and tearfully bracing for rejection, and Rito's mind and heart stilled upon hearing her lay her soul bare, realizing he had a decision to make, and either one would inevitably change his life. It was true what she said, he'd only known her for a day, but he'd seen enough of this world to realize that sometimes it only took a single day to change someone's entire outlook on everything. So much had happened in the almost 24 hours since this crazy, fun, adorkable, brilliant princess came barrelling into his life, and despite himself, despite all his reasons for rejecting Haruna, he wouldn't have it any other way.

He lifted her chin up gently with his hand and offered her his most brilliant yottawatt smile. "Okay, Princess Lala, you win. I'll marry you. I don't know if what I feel for you in a 24 hour period could classify as love, and you're right that this does complicate my admittedly sorely lacking personal life a lot, but if you're willing to have me, then come hell or high water, I'm actually yours. As long as you understand that our relationship sometimes has to take a backseat for the greater good, then I'm confident we can make this work. Besides, you're cute, sweet, fun, and beautiful, inside and out, not to mention brilliant. I could do a whole heckuva lot worse."

"Do… Do you really mean that?" Lala asked him in a dreamy, infinitely faraway voice.

Rito nodded. "I do. I'm not sure how much I believe in predestination, but I do genuinely believe you were meant to be in my life somehow."

Lala squealed and threw her arms around him, her large breasts squishing against his abdomen as their height difference became readily apparent. "YESSSSS! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret it, Rito! I promise!"

"Congratulations, Miss Lala! It looks like the wedding is on!" Peke exclaimed with exuberance to match her creator, while Rito contented himself with enjoying the hug and allowing himself to really sink into it.

Lala's excitement was palpable when Rito pulled away and did something that shocked and elated her beyond comparison. He caressed her bosom, gazed longingly into her eyes, and smiled dazzlingly at her. "I love you, Princess Lala, and ask that you take my hand in an official Devilukean Marriage."

Lala's eyes turned into actual hearts at the official Devilukean proposal, shocked and amazed that Rito knew about it. "I gleefully accept with all of my heart! Rito Yuuki, I know this is premature, but I'd like to kiss you now, if that's not too much trouble."

Rito didn't answer her with words. He wanted to tell her he was planning on saving his firsts for Haruna-Chan, that he wasn't ready for that much intimacy, or any other number of bullshit reasons for disrupting the naturally rapid motion of their blossoming relationship. Instead, his heart answered for him in the only way it knew how, by irresistibly compelling him to nod his head extremely shyly. Lala was also shy, but pushed past it, stepped closer to him, stood on her tiptoes, and took his mouth in a violently passionate kiss that both felt all the way down in their toes. Fire, electricity, and ice coursed through their bodies at the established point of lip contact, and Rito moaned aloud from how full, soft, and velvety the texture of Lala's lips were.

They pulled apart at last, both utterly flushed and completely breathless, which was a first for Rito. Even so, he'd never been more addicted to a source of sensory input in his life. They stared at each other in passion-crazed shock for a moment or two, before they proceeded to devour each other.

'My first kiss… And it's with such a gorgeous girl.' He inwardly swooned, his heart jack-hammering in his chest at a centillion beats per attosecond by his count. The universe tightened in response to his elation.

'My first kiss is with a guy like Rito! Wooo!' Lala similarly thought wildly, growing impossibly wet between her legs.

They couldn't bring themselves to stop. Every time they pulled away to catch their breath, they were drawn back to each other's lips in a matter of seconds. It would be some time before they finally calmed down enough to join Mikan for dinner and relay the happy news to her and Zastin. Rito dreaded the inevitable fulfillment of his promise to Haruna to tell her if anything changed in his emotional availability for a relationship, but didn't let it ruin the moment when his life changed forever.

XXX

Later that night, Rito and Lala sat outside together on a small, grassy ditch overlooking a river with a suspension bridge. Rito knew he was only imagining it, but the stars and crescent moon looked especially illustrious tonight. He still had a hard time wrapping his head around it. The beautiful First Princess of Deviluke's Galactic Empire had asked him to marry her, and despite everything going on and the difficulties it would bring, he said yes. Rito had even dared to touch her breasts and perform a traditional Devilukean proposal, something he'd once discarded as perverted and gross, but which felt strangely intimate to him in the heat of the moment.

"You've made me so happy." Lala confessed with a dazzling smile on her face, her gaze settling on the horizon.

"How so?" Rito asked her, wanting to know what possessed her to propose to him so suddenly like that.

"You've saved me from a boring life of endless, involuntary marriage meetings. I know the lifestyle sounds carefree, but it's rough being royalty. People don't value you as a person, they expect you to do things for the sake of the throne, or because it's my duty as princess, or because my Father said so. But no one ever listened to me or asked what I wanted. They just expected me to embrace it all, but no one bothered to understand my feelings." Lala confided, unable to stop once she started.

Rito listened patiently, his heart squeezing with compassion as he took her hand in his and comfortingly ran his thumb across it.

"Need I remind you, Miss Lala: not everyone." Peke spoke up.

Lala glanced skyward with a smile. "Oh, right, sorry about that. Everyone except you, Peke."

"That's right." The costume robot replied in earnest.

"So, that's the reason why you ran away from home, huh? Have you thought about abdicating?" Rito asked her.

"I have, but I couldn't do that to my sisters, or my Daddy and Mama. And besides, life as Deviluke's First Princess isn't all bad. I have almost limitless funds to invest in my inventions, for one thing, and my parents do everything they can to find decent suitors for me."

"That's fair, I suppose. It's still shocking to me that such an advanced civilization hasn't yet seen the folly of nigh-totalitarianistic monarchies and unhappy arranged marriages. Earth abolished both in most of its first-world countries a long time ago. Then there's the fact that most of the civilizations that make up your empire are masculinely dominant and are so backwards with accepting a female ruler. For what it's worth, I'd vote for you to be the new galactic leader without hesitation."

Lala's smile broadened as she sat up straighter, feeling exceedingly warmed by his words. "You're different from anyone I've ever met before. You treated me like an individual from the moment I appeared in your life. You listened to my story, believed me, and even protected me."

Now it was Rito's turn to smile as he reflected on the events of the previous night, and his fight with Zastin, if one could even call it that. It was fun to let loose with his powers a bit with someone who could actually take a lot more of what he could dish out. He hadn't realized how much he needed that kind of release.

"Rito, thank you so much." Lala said in a voice just above a whisper, directing her smile at him now.

"Lala." Rito said with a blush, feeling his heart racing unfathomably fast as they tentatively linked pinkies. "I should be the one thanking you." He added.

He didn't know whether it was the celestial ambiance, or the sensation of their inextricably linked pinkies, or just a general case of the feels, but Rito couldn't stop what he said next. "My whole life, I've had to keep a really big part of my life a secret from the world around me, and from everyone close to me aside from my family and best friend. Even if I had been more open about who I really am, I wouldn't have known what to tell them, because the truth is, I've never really known what I am or why I can do the things I can do. All I've ever known is that we create our own purpose in life, and I've spent the last few years connecting with the world, opening my heart to other people outside my family, trying to find out why I wish to be the champion of everything good and wholesome. To be honest, I still wasn't sure what my purpose was… until I met you." Rito paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, while Lala listened with immeasurable patience, her eyes tearing up slightly.

"In just 24-hours, you've livened up my life in ways I never knew was possible. You've helped me glean a ton of insight into my gifts, speculated that the source of my powers might have extra-universal origins, and are doing everything in your power to help me discover myself. There's still so much in my life I'm not sure about, Princess Lala, but I am sure about you."

"In just 24 hours, you've proven you understand me in ways no one else can or even would, and not just because you're an alien like me, but because you know what it feels like to be alone and to not have permanent fixtures in your life, to feel like no one ever sees you as a person. People look at me and they see the powers, they see the super. You're the first person to truly see the man, to see beneath the glamor and fully understand just how alone I truly am. I don't know you that well yet, and I'll be the first to admit things are moving incredibly fast between us, but I reckon I've gleaned enough."

For several moments, they both sat there, Lala too stunned by his heartfelt words to say anything for a while. She tightened her hold on his pinky, finally deciding to let her actions speak for her by kissing him once again. Rito's eyes popped open, before slowly slinking shut as he returned the kiss.

They slowly broke apart once more, though their pinkies remained linked as Lala spoke at last, her voice gravelly. "You know, Devilukean marriages have a cooldown period. If you have any lingering regrets, you don't have to feel obligated to go through with this for my sake. I know things are progressing fast between us, so I wouldn't blame you for calling it off for now and giving things more time to blossom between us."

It occurred to Rito that she was giving him an out, and he scoffed ever-so-slightly. 'Put up or shut up, Yuuki.' He internally monologued, before adding aloud. "Lala, I'm marrying you because I want to and genuinely adore you, not because I feel like I have to. I could've easily remained a simple guardian of your martial autonomy and your friend while you searched for a suitable mate. I said yes to your proposal because it felt right, and I can assure you I have zero regrets."

"You know what marrying into my family means for you though, right?"

"Yes, and quite frankly, it's the perfect opportunity for me to expand my operations as Superman on a galactic scale and right the wrongs across the Milky Way and beyond. Not that I'm only marrying you for that, of course, but the thought did cross my mind. Alien civilizations would be more receptive to the kind of changes I plan to bring if I was more than just some nameless, faceless entity with no political acclaim. I want to fix what's wrong with more than just Earth, Lala, and I'd be lying if I said marrying you didn't open all kinds of doors. I would never presume to marry you just for that, however, and am truly confident that I can develop real, deep feelings for you in the time we spend together leading up to the wedding and fending off your other suitors. If I genuinely adore you this much in only 24 hours, I can scarcely imagine how much those feelings will grow and evolve in the coming months."

"But what about your Earthly lover? That blue-haired girl? Aren't you with her? Have you talked with her about any of this?" Lala voiced. Rito rounded on her with eyes widened with shock.

"How do you know about Haruna-chan?!" He questioningly exclaimed.

Lala looked incredibly vulnerable in those moments. "I… um… saw you two last night. I heard you confess to her."

"And did you hear anything after that?"

Lala shook her head negatively.

Rito sighed, and tightened his hold on her pinkie in a reassuring gesture. "I rejected her, Lala. She offered to be my girlfriend, and like an idiot, I told her that I needed to strike the right balance in my life before I considered dating. At the time, it felt like the right call. Now, however, I'm not so sure, especially after agreeing to marry you."

"I'm sorry." Lala murmured.

Rito shook his head and smiled at her. "Don't be. It was my call. I'll try and straighten things up with her tomorrow. For tonight, let's just enjoy this."

Lala nodded, having genuine tears of joy in her eyes now as she threw her arms around him and sobbed. Rito held her, rubbing her back soothingly as she whispered thanks in broken, fractured, breathy sighs. It took her several long, drawn out moments to recover from her emotionally overwhelmed state, but when she did, she kissed him again.

Rito's brain turned to mush and countless butterflies formed a mosh pit in his stomach. 'I could definitely get used to this.' He inwardly swooned, as Lala let go with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that. I just really like kissing you." She admitted with uncharacteristic shyness.

"Likewise, believe me. I'd say we should try and take this slow, but I don't think I'll ever be able to say no to that." Rito replied with just as much shyness.

"Yayy!" Lala cheered, hugging his arm against her bountiful bosom as Rito's whole body damn near seized at the intimate contact.

XXX

The next day, Rito sat in his designated seat in school a few desks behind Haruna, having spent the entire night trying to figure out what to say to her and how to say it. 'It's not like I can just say, oh, hi Sairenji, you know how you asked me to be your boyfriend and I refused? Well, in less than 24 hours since that conversation, I've gotten myself hitched to an alien princess who I've known for only one day! How the hell am I supposed to explain that to her?! Sure, Lala might be refreshingly straightforward compared to most Earth girls, and I don't regret my decision, but it's still shocking how quickly she wormed her way into my heart.'

He was jarred out of her internal reverie by the teacher speaking up. "Um, this is a bit sudden, but I'm going to introduce a new transfer student. Okay, you can come in now, Miss." The older man spoke.

"Okayyy!" A familiarly cheery voice exclaimed. Rito blanched when an instantly recognizable pink-head strode into the classroom with all the subtlety of a supernova.

"Ohh, yoohoo, Rito! Now we can spend even more time together!" Lala cheerily exclaimed while throwing him a cute eye smile and a peace sign. She looked extremely attractive in the Sainan High girl's uniform, and her tail was thankfully still invisible. Even so, Rito was shocked and more than a little horrified by her unexpected, untimely, and extremely unsubtle arrival. Haruna suddenly developed a depressing, deep blue aura as she slunk in her seat, which only added to his worries.

Rito gave himself a pat on the back for managing to stay as calm as he did, and gave her an awkward wave in return as she took one of the only seats left in the classroom, which just so happened to be the one next to him. The so-called Superman had never been so glad to hear the sounds of a magnitude 6 Earthquake on the other side of the world in his life, and promptly vanished while leaving a decoy via his ability to create unlimited clones of himself to deal with the fallout of Lala's suddenly integration into every facet of his life. He'd need to have a chat with her about boundaries, but despite the complications she brought into his life, both as a friend and as his blushing bride-to-be, he was still glad to have her around.