A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol. 1 Page 4

  His laboratory, which had been exactly 15 square meters, now appeared to be much bigger—much, much bigger. Just from seeing how far the walls were from the entry point, Alex judged the room to be at least the same size as his house, if not a little larger. What’s more, several new and sleek devices that he couldn’t identify had replaced many of his original machines. With their streamlined and slightly organic appearance, they looked exactly like what he imagined advanced alien technology would.

  His sister stood several feet to his left. Her eyes were wide, and he suspected that his were as well. What sort of insane modifications were these? How had this happened? Expanding a room like this should not have been possible, never mind the new tech. He didn’t even want to consider what sort of laws that Gabrielle was breaking!

  Is this more of her dimensional technology?

  In the center of the room, wearing goggles and a pair of gloves, Gabrielle wore an expression of supreme satisfaction. She looked awfully proud of herself.

  “G-Gabrielle?”

  “Hm? Oh! Alex!” Gabrielle bounded over to him. Her brightly grinning face was like looking directly into a binary star. “What do you think of the modifications? Now it will be much easier to build stuff. Oh, and I took the liberty of updating all of your equipment.”

  “I… can see that.” Alex felt a headache coming on. “How did you do all this? How did the room get bigger? Is this more of that dimensional theory stuff?”

  “Yes! I used Mr. Dimensional Distortion to separate the lab from our dimension, creating a pocket dimension, which I then expanded using my universal dimension tool!”

  The “universal dimension tool” that Gabrielle held up for him to see looked a lot like a magical wand. It was long and pink. There was a gem embedded on one end and wings sprouted from either side of the multi-faceted jewel, which seemed to cause light refractions as Gabrielle waved it about.

  Unable to withstand it, Alex finally allowed his curiosity to get the better of him. “By ‘universal dimension tool,’ do you mean to say that it not only serves multiple purposes, but that it breaks the boundaries between dimensions?”

  “Yes!” Gabrielle seemed quite proud as she talked about the device. “It can do a lot of things. I use it to help me build, and it’s great for on the spot repairs, or creating small-scale devices. It’s also really good at welding circuits. And it can break dimensional boundaries, though not to the same extent as Mr. Dimension Changer.”

  “That’s incredible!” Alex was overcome. “How does it work? What sort of programming does it use?”

  Gabrielle’s wing-like device, still attached to her hips, flapped as she explained how the tool worked, speaking in terms that Alex both knew and didn’t know. It seemed that technology from Angelisia was far superior to that of humans. Many of the technical aspects that she talked about, he had little to no knowledge of. However, that just made him even more excited. It had been so long since he’d learned something new.

  “Uh… I hate to interrupt your nerd conversation,” Alice said, having apparently recovered from her shock. “But do you think we can eat now?”

  Alex needed a second to comprehend what she was talking about. “Oh. Right. Dinner.”

  Gabrielle also didn’t seem to know what Alice was talking about, but then her eyes lit up. “That’s right! We’re going to have dinner. I almost forgot about dinner!”

  As Alex and Gabrielle rubbed the back of their heads, Alice sighed.

  She seemed depressed for some reason.

  Alex thought it better not to ask.

  8

  “Delicious!” Gabrielle mumbled around a mouthful of food. “This is so delicious!”

  They were sitting at the dinner table. Gabrielle sat next to him, while Alice sat on the other side. His sister was quietly eating her meal, taking her time chewing, as if she was savoring each bite while trying not to let him know. Unlike Alice, Gabrielle had no such compunctions. She gobbled up everything in sight with haste.

  Maybe she’s afraid it’ll disappear if she doesn’t eat it quickly.

  Alex grinned. “I’m glad you like it. I’m not the best chef around, but I’m pretty good in the kitchen.”

  “I’m always surprised to see how well you can cook,” Alice said. “Especially since you suck at chemistry.”

  “Urk!”

  “You’re also really destructive.”

  “Gurk!”

  “I half expect you to blow up the kitchen every time you start cooking.”

  “Can we please not talk about my destructive tendencies now?” Alex asked. Given that it was those same tendencies that had gotten him kicked out of the cadet academy, they were the last thing he wanted to think about.

  “Absolutely amazing!” Gabrielle’s ears wiggled and the wing-like devices on her hips flapped. He wondered what sort of technology had been used to create them. “I love it!”

  “It’s not that good,” Alice mumbled.

  “Say that when you haven’t finished licking the plate clean,” Alex rebutted.

  Alice didn’t say anything, but the blush on her face as she set down the plate, which had been thoroughly licked clean, told Alex all he needed to know.

  After dinner, Alex washed the dishes while his sister went to the living room and turned on the holovid. Gabrielle had disappeared. He assumed that she’d gone back to the lab. She seemed to like it there.

  Speaking of, I really want to talk to her about all of her modifications.

  Alex wasn’t upset that she’d modified his lab, but he did need to know exactly what she had done. All of his equipment looked different now. That meant it probably worked differently, too. He couldn’t use equipment that he wasn’t familiar with.

  Finishing the dishes, Alex decided to take a quick shower. He wandered up the stairs and entered the restroom—and then he stopped.

  Gabrielle was standing in the bathroom. Her unitard had been discarded and lay folded up in one of the clothing bins, allowing her voluptuous figure to be displayed. Alex blinked rapidly as he took in the sight. Her large breasts stood out proudly, complimenting her thin waist, while her shapely hips sensually curved into a pair of beautiful thighs. Slender arms. Delicate fingers. Cute little toes. Alex was mesmerized.

  “Oh, Alex. Have you come to take a bath, too?” Gabrielle’s bright smile gained several levels of vibrancy as she turned around. Alex felt his face burn as her breasts bounced. Light pink nipples poked out from between strands of silver hair.

  “Uh…”

  “That’s great! We can take a bath together!” Gabrielle cheered as she grabbed him by the arm and attempted to tug him into the shower room.

  Alex felt his arm become smooshed between two soft hills. He jolted as if he’d been shocked. “A-ah! I’m sorry! I hadn’t realized you were in here!”

  “It’s fine! Anyway, let’s take a bath! I can scrub your back for you.”

  “Ack!” Alex choked on his own spit. “I-I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to bathe together!”

  Gabrielle laughed as if he’d said something silly. “What are you talking about? Baths are always more fun when you take them with someone else.”

  “I-I’m sorry! But I really can’t do this!”

  Before Gabrielle could say anything else, Alex yanked his arm from her surprisingly strong grip, and then rushed out of the bathroom. He slammed the door behind him. Then he leaned against the wall, his breathing heavy and his face flushed.

  Wh-what was that all about?

  Alex tried to regain control of his breathing and think about what had just happened logically. Unfortunately, his brain seemed incapable of computing logic, or anything else. Gabrielle… she had completely taken him by surprise back there. Who the heck asked someone that they’d just met to take a bath with them?

  But… she really is beautiful…

  Even now, Alex’s mind conjured an image of Gabrielle, of her breasts, capped with lovely pink nipples, of her small, shapely butt and amazi
ng hips. Her legs, her arms, even her feet enhanced her allure beyond anything that Alex had ever seen. Just thinking about her made him hard enough to cut durasteel.

  “Alex?” Gabrielle’s voice came from beyond the door.

  Alex stiffened, in more ways than one. “Y-yes?”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to take a bath with me?”

  “I-I’m sure.”

  “Oh…” For reasons that he couldn’t fathom, Gabrielle sounded depressed. “Okay.”

  Alex listened as bare feet padded along behind the door. The sound was followed by a sliding door opening and closing, and then by running water.

  Without meaning to, Alex imagined Gabrielle standing under the water, droplets cascading down her body, matting her hair erotically to her skin. It was enough to make his face feel like it had been burnt on a stove.

  What am I thinking?! Damn it, Alex! Stop thinking about this!

  To get his mind out of the gutter, Alex slammed his face against the wall. Repeatedly. Bang! Bang! Bang! Over and over he smashed himself face first into the wall, hoping that maybe if he rendered himself unconscious, he would stop picturing Gabrielle taking a shower.

  “What are you doing, Bro?”

  Alex almost jumped out of his skin when Alice spoke up behind him. He turned around to find his sister standing about a meter away, her expression blank.

  Coughing into his hand, Alex pretended that he hadn’t been caught slamming his face into a wall. “I’m not sure what you mean. I’m not doing anything.”

  “Uh-huh… so, you weren’t just banging your head against a wall for no apparent reason?”

  “Ugh…”

  “Whatever. It’s not like I care. Anyway, Bro, you might want to fix your pants. You seem to be having a problem.”

  “Problem?”

  Alex didn’t know what his sister meant, not until he realized that his pants felt abnormally tight. He looked down. His pants looked like someone had used them to set up an old-school pitch tent. Looking back up, he stared at Alice, who was staring at his pants, the barest hint of red on her cheeks.

  “Iyahn!” Alex’s unmanly cry echoed throughout the house.

  Chapter 2

  The Danger of Taking in Strays

  I woke up feeling different than normal. For one thing, I was warmer than usual. For another, I felt surprisingly comfortable—not that I had ever felt uncomfortable, but I felt really amazing right then.

  I think it had something to do with the pillow on top of me, which I’d been hugging in my sleep. It didn’t feel like any pillow I’ve ever slept with before. It was soft but firm, light yet carrying more substance than most pillows, and it was so warm. Shifting to get more comfortable, I held the pillow tighter and was just about to fall back asleep again—

  “Mmm…”

  —when the pillow moaned.

  I froze. Something raced through my body, a bioelectric shock that woke me right up. As my mind went into overdrive, something long and lean shifted against my legs and rubbed my crotch, forcing me to stifle a groan.

  Opening my eyes, I looked down to see silver hair and a gorgeous face. It was Gabrielle. She was sleeping in my bed. Gabrielle was in my bed. My bed. She was in it. There was a girl in my bed, and, from the way her nipples were rubbing against my chest as she moved, she was bereft of clothes.

  Oh. My. Mars.

  There was a naked girl in my bed!

  “Mmm.”

  Gabrielle moaned again. It was such a sexy sound that my already stiff lower region became hard enough that I could’ve probably wielded it like a precision laser sword.

  “Alex?” she murmured, placing her soft hands on my chest and lifting herself up until she was straddling my waist. My eyes bulged as I stared at her breasts, which were so close that I could have leaned up and taken her nipples in my mouth.

  “W-w-what are you—why are you in my bed?!”

  “I wanted to sleep with you, silly.”

  Gabrielle’s sleepy smile was somehow even sexier than her normal vibrant beam. My arousal skyrocketed, as did my surging panic.

  “Now, how about a good morning kiss?”

  As Gabrielle leaned in, her lips pursed and ready for a kiss, I tried to scramble out from underneath her. Unfortunately, doing so not only caused my erection to become firmly stuck between her butt cheeks, it also caused us to lose our balance.

  Gabrielle screamed as we both tumbled over the side of the bed. My arms windmilled as I attempted to keep from falling, but it was too late. The world around me spiraled. Everything was spinning! I was going to—

  —Alex cried out in pain as his head smacked against the floor. Even if it was carpet, it still hurt. Blinking the bleariness from his eyes, he looked at the ceiling. White. Familiar. It was the ceiling of his bedroom.

  “W-what was… was that a dream?”

  Alex blushed as he realized what had happened. Yesterday’s changing room incident must have affected him even more than he’d realized, invoking a sexual dream brought about by teenage hormones.

  Being sixteen sucks.

  As a normal, healthy, teenage male, Alex had already experienced more than his fair share of erotic dreams. Most of them had featured Selene. A few had even featured Alice’s best friend.

  This was the first time that his dream had felt so real. He wondered if the reason for that was due to having seen Gabrielle naked. Perhaps having finally caught a glimpse of a naked girl’s body had stimulated his mind? It was a sound theory, though because biology and human psychology weren’t his strong points, Alex didn’t know if it was true or not.

  With a deep sigh, Alex clambered to his feet and started his day. Even though he was no longer a cadet, he still dreamed of being a hero like his father, and so, like any good hero, his day started out with 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, 100 lunges, 100 pull-ups, and a 10-kilometer run. After his exercise, he took a shower. Thankfully, Gabrielle was not present this time.

  After getting dressed in pants and a plain T-shirt, Alex went down to the kitchen so he could make breakfast. It was nothing fancy, just scrambled eggs, toast, and orange juice. He left the eggs to warm up on the stove, and then went up to his sister’s bedroom to wake up Alice.

  “Five more minutes…”

  Well, he tried to wake Alice up. She was being uncooperative.

  “Alice, if you don’t get up right now, I’m going to dump ice water on your head.”

  “I’m up! I’m up!”

  That got her going.

  Alice climbed out of bed. Her pajamas were wrinkled and her hair was a complete mess, as if she’d received a static shock. She was glaring at him.

  He met her glare with a brilliant smile. “Breakfast is ready.”

  “Yeah, yeah… troublesome brother…” Alice yawned as she left her bedroom.

  With his sister awake, Alex stepped into Gabrielle’s room. The bed was empty. He wondered where she was, but then realized that she must have been in the lab.

  As he got closer to the lab, loud sounds reached his ears. The whirring and buzzing of machinery echoed to him. It sounded like Gabrielle was working on something.

  She’s clearly already made herself at home.

  Entering the now massive space, Alex found Gabrielle standing by a large translucent sphere. There was an object floating inside. It looked like a mechanical dog with big teeth.

  Gabrielle’s hands were shoved into a pair of gloves that had been stuck inside of the sphere, and she was using an advanced welding tool to affect what he assumed were repairs.

  Entranced by the sight, Alex walked up to Gabrielle and watched her work. She was wearing her unitard again. The tight outfit easily showcased her curvaceous figure.

  That morning, Alex wasn’t as bothered by the sensuality that her outfit lent her. He was more focused on what she was doing rather than how the outfit conformed to her butt, breasts, and legs.

  “Oh, Alex! Morning!” Gabrielle said when she finally noticed him.

>   “Morning. What are you working on?”

  “This is Mr. Recycle Doggy.”

  “From that name, can I infer that it recycles waste?”

  “Yes! Mr. Recycle Doggy can eat any type of waste and transform it into energy! I usually use a remote control to make him work, but I’m currently modifying him to have more autonomous actions. That way he can clean up without me telling him to.”

  “Nice. What parts did you use in his creation?”

  Gabrielle happily listed all of the parts that she’d used, some of which he knew, others that he didn’t but could infer what they did. As he listened, Alex became engrossed in their conversation. He asked more questions to clarify certain points, made suggestions when he thought there was room for improvement, and added comments detailing his own experiences. During their conversation, Gabrielle wrote down suggestions on a holographic pad.

  “So, you’re saying that the OS that lists all of the materials Mr. Recycle Doggy can consume would work better if I changed it from standard symbol code to binary code?”

  “Yes. Binary code is easier for machines to comprehend because it’s just a series of 1s and 0s. Using a symbolic system not only consumes more memory space, but it requires more fine-tuning. I can help you install the new code, since your people don’t know binary.”

  “That would be great!”

  As he and Gabrielle continued to enthusiastically converse, the lab door swung open and Alice walked inside. “You two do realize what time it is, don’t you?”

  Alex and Gabrielle, wearing matching baffled expressions, looked at Alice.

  “Time?” they asked in unison.

  Alice twitched. “It’s zero eight-hundred hours.”

  Alex’s eyes widened. “Oh, crap! It’s time for you to go to school!”

  “School?” Gabrielle asked. “You go to school, Alice?”

  “Uh, yeah?”

  Her eyes sparkling, Gabrielle clasped her hands together in delight. “I’ve never been to school before! What’s it like? Is it fun?”

  “Uh, no. It’s not fun. It’s boring.”

  “Oh…” Gabrielle’s ears drooped, and even her wing-like constructs seemed to fall in depression.