A Most Unlikely Hero Vol 5 Page 4

  Wearing a small frown, she went back putting on her new bra. She hoped it would fit.

  9

  “Ha… ha…”

  “Ge… he…”

  Michelle took several deep breaths as her chest and shoulders heaved. Sweat poured down her face and neck, staining her crisis suit. It sucked. She only liked getting sweaty when she was masturbating while playing her erotic dating simulations. It was all her sister’s fault that she was like this.

  All around her, various plants had sprung up from the ground, having burst through the faux wooden panels like a shuttle punching through Mars’s atmosphere. The walls also had numerous holes in them. Some were from her plants, but several had also been created by Fenrir, her sister’s pet wolf.

  “Tch. You’re such a cheater,” Ariel said, clicking her tongue. “Using plants to protect you like that.”

  Michelle chortled. “As opposed to you using Fenrir to fight for you? Is this not a case of the androgean man-eating plant calling Kong the Mighty a hypocrite?”

  All three sisters had their own strengths and weaknesses. Ariel was capable of taming and speaking to animals. Michelle could speak to plants. Gabrielle was a genius inventor, but her true strength lied in her Angelisian powers, which were on par with their father’s. In a way each of them had inherited something unique, though the abilities she and Ariel possessed were a genetic defect that came from their mixed blood.

  “Hmph! I’m only using Fenrir to fight. How many plants have you summoned? Face it, Michelle, between the two of us, your powers are definitely weaker,” Ariel taunted.

  “Well, you had to excel over me at something,” Michelle said, eying her sister’s flat chest. “It certainly isn’t the best department.”

  “Don’t call me flat! I don’t want to hear that from someone who dresses like a hooker!”

  Seeing Ariel get so riled up always amused Michelle. Among the three of them, Ariel was the one with the shortest fuse and the largest temper, a juxtaposition that contrasted with her lithe frame and tiny chest. Her tantrums could be explosive. She still remembered the time she had pissed Ariel off and the girl had destroyed an entire mountain inside of their dimensional space with her pet, Kong the Mighty.

  While she and Ariel were arguing, a young man dressed in rags tried to crawl away from the battle.

  Unfortunately for him, one of the tentacles from the first plant that Michelle had summoned noticed him trying to escape. It latched onto his leg and lifted him into the air.

  André’s screams were once more lost to the sounds of battle.

  10

  After shopping, the group went to watch a holodrama at the nearest theater.

  Holodramas were popular movies/shows used primarily as entertainment. Most were senseless, filled with action, drama, sex, and containing very little in the way of educational value. They were also popular. Most families, when they came home from work and/or school, would sit down to watch the latest holodrama. Back when he was living with Selene, he and Alice would always watch holodramas with Selene’s folks.

  The holodrama they watched in the theater was a space adventure about a group of female mercenaries. It was an okay holodrama, Alex thought. It had good action, decent pacing, and though the plot had been lacking, it had been entertaining. He did have to cover his sister’s eyes during some of the more risqué parts, much to his sister’s dismay and Ryoko’s amusement.

  Everyone went home after that.

  Alex, Alice, Nyx, and Gabrielle were the only ones who lived in the Outer District. While everyone else warped home at one of the warp points, they hopped onto a shuttle.

  “That was so much fun!” Gabrielle was wearing one of the largest smiles he’d ever seen. “Wasn’t it a blast?”

  “It was troublesome,” Alice retorted.

  “I had a lot of fun,” Alex admitted.

  Indeed, even though being what amounted to a baggage carrier had not been pleasant, he’d still enjoyed his time with Selene, Kazekiri, and the others. Next time, though, Alex wanted to have some other men come with them. He’d felt completely outnumbered by his female companions.

  Maybe I should consider inviting Azazel…

  “I’m glad.” Gabrielle hugged his arm. From her actions and beaming smile, Alex assumed she had forgotten all about the awkwardness from this morning. “I always like it when you have fun. I like it even more when we have fun together.”

  Alex grinned at the girl, and then focused on Nyx. The pretty assassin sat on the other side of Alice. Long black hair trailed down her body and the seat like an overflowing waterfall as it framed a pale, beautiful face that was too perfect to be human. With her small body and emotionless yet gorgeous face, the girl reminded him of a doll.

  She wasn’t wearing her normal black outfit, which had been confiscated after Ryoko and Gabrielle played dress up with her. A white shirt with pink symbols sat snugly against her lithe frame. Her black skirt contrasted pleasantly with the shirt and stockings, while her feet were encased by white space boots.

  Her feet didn’t touch the ground. He didn’t know why, but he found this adorable.

  “Did you have fun?” he asked her.

  Nyx looked at him with crimson eyes. “It was an interesting experience. I’ve never spent that much time with so many people.”

  “I hope you have many more such experiences,” Alex said.

  “Hn.”

  Nyx was an awfully quiet girl. She spoke when spoken to, but she rarely initiated conversation unless something caught her attention. He wasn’t bothered by this. That was just how Nyx was.

  The shuttle stopped in the Outer District, called such because it was located outside of Mars City, which sat inside of a large crater formerly known as the Dollfus Crater. The Outer District was located around the lip of the crater, its elevation higher than Mars City. It surrounded the city on all sides.

  He, Alice, Gabrielle, and Nyx exited through the sliding doors and stepped onto the sidewalk.

  Unlike Mars City, which was built upon a series of catwalks, walkways, and hubs, the Outer District had been built to resemble a suburb from Earth. Paved roads with sidewalks meandered around the district. Trees lined one side while buildings stood on the other. Convenience stores and houses were interspersed throughout, and several canals ran through the district.

  Alex and the others arrived home—only to discover that a catastrophe had occurred while they were away.

  “W-what the hell happened?” Alex asked, eyes bulging.

  Even Alice’s eyes had grown wide. “That’s seriously troublesome.”

  “Oh!” Gabrielle put a hand to her mouth. “I think I recognize these plants.”

  “…” Nyx, of course, said nothing, and merely stared at the house with half-lidded eyes.

  The house was a disaster zone. Large tentacle-like vines had blown holes through the house. They jutted out all over the place, crawled along the roof and walls, and dug into the floor. Several walls had been destroyed, reduced to rubble. Even so, Alex couldn’t see into the house because there were dozens of plants and trees blocking the way. It looked like someone had terraformed his home into a jungle.

  They entered the house through the front entrance, stepping over the busted down door and into the hallway. The inside was covered in moss and more plants. What happened here? Had one of Gabrielle’s marriage candidates come by and destroyed his home? That didn’t make any sense. They were after him, not his house! Alex couldn’t fathom why anyone would do this.

  “Hmm.” Gabrielle hummed as she stared at the plants. Then, a second later, her eyes lit up. “Ah! I do recognize these plants! They belong to Michelle!”

  “Michelle?” Alex and Alice asked at the same time.

  At that second, an unfamiliar voice spoke up. “Is that my dearest older sister, Gabrielle?”

  A young girl walked out of the living room. She must have been around Alice’s age, though she had a mature aura about her. Blue hair with a silvery sheen was tied into a long ponytail that traveled down her back. Her long, pointed ears and the feathery wings jutting from her back marked this girl as an Angelisian.

  She was wearing a crisis suit like Gabrielle had when they first met, but something else that vaguely resembled a gothic lolita outfit had been thrown over it. A short white skirt revealed her lean legs, and white stockings complimented her milky complexion. Her top had a dip in the front, showing off her cleavage, which was considerable given her estimated age. While her breasts weren’t close to Gabrielle’s in size, she was still well-endowed.

  “Oh-ho! Looks like another hot little number. Damn, these Angelisians really are the hottest bitches in the—”

  Alex gnashed his teeth behind his lips as he slammed his mental barricade up. Seeing another attractive female had made his attention slip.

  “Michelle!” Gabrielle burst as she rushed up to hug her sister.

  Michelle readily returned the hug, laughing. “Hello, Sister. It has been a while since we last saw each other in person. I’m so very pleased to see that you are doing well, and that you’re so happy.”

  “Is Ariel with you?” Gabrielle asked.

  “Ah, she’s in the other room.” Michelle pointed to the living room.

  Everyone went into the living room, which appeared even more like a disaster zone than the entrance hall. In the center of the room was another young girl. She wore the same clothes as Michelle, except hers was black and more modest, with no gap to show off her cleavage. Alex suspected this was because she had no cleavage to speak of. Currently, the girl was tied up in numerous vines, one of which was stuck inside of her mouth like a gag. Her hair, cropped in a short, boyish cut, was silvery green.

  Alex had been given some basic lessons on Angelisian biology. The pur
er an angelisian’s blood, the less color they had in their hair. Gabrielle’s silver hair was a symbol of her status. She was a pureblood Angelisian with no alien blood in her. The blue and green pigments in their hair meant that Michelle and Ariel were not pureblood Angelisians.

  I wonder what species their mothers are.

  “Who cares? I wanna know what sounds they make when they spread their legs—OOF!”

  “Be silent, Asmodeus.”

  Alex clicked his tongue before, once again, cutting off the connection between him and the two voices. His emotions must have been frayed by the devastation before him. Dang it. He was going to need to work on keeping cool while stressed.

  “Ariel, I’m so glad to see you,” Gabrielle said, and then she paused. “Why are you tied up like that?”

  “Mph mmfff mmph mmm!!” Ariel shouted between her gag.

  “I couldn’t understand a word of that,” Alex said.

  “Me neither,” Alice added.

  “…” Nyx remained silent.

  “Don’t mind her, Sister,” Michelle assured. “She and I were, uh, rough housing, and our playing got out of hand.”

  “Is that why my house is destroyed?” Alex asked.

  Michelle surprised Alex by bowing to him. “Yes, I am terribly sorry about what happened to your house. Rest assured that I will do everything within my power to see that your house is restored to the way it was—no, I shall make it even better than it used to be.”

  “Uh… you don’t have to go that far—” Alex tried to say, but he was cut off.

  “Of course I do. You are taking care of my dearest elder sister. That is reason enough for me to help you. Aside from that, what happened here is the fault of Ariel and myself. It is important for us to reimburse you for the damages we have caused.”

  This girl seemed like one of those stubborn types—polite most of the time, but stubborn when she strongly believed in something. Fighting her when she had decided to do something would probably have the inverse effect.

  “Ah, well, if you insist, then I guess there’s no choice.” Alex conceded. “In that case, thank you in advance. I appreciate that you are willing to help repair my house.”

  “You’re very welcome, though I don’t think you should be thanking me. We did destroy your house, after all.”

  Alex nodded several times. She had a point there.

  “By the way,” he began again.

  “Yes?” asked Michelle.

  “Who’s that guy?” Alex pointed to the unconscious man dressed in rags, who was hanging upside from the ceiling via several vines that had wrapped around his leg. He looked somewhat familiar. In fact, Alex was sure he should recognize this person, but their face was covered in so many bruises and contusions that he couldn’t for the life of him figure out who this person was.

  “I have no idea,” Michelle admitted, shrugging her delicate shoulders.

  “… Right.”

  11

  Gabrielle untied Ariel, who swore up a storm until Alex bopped her on the head and lectured her on why it was wrong to use such vulgar language, and then she, Michelle, and Gabrielle sat down and began talking. The one who seemed to be the most enthusiastic of the bunch was Gabrielle herself, but both Ariel and Michelle smiled as the oldest among them gushed about how great it was to see them.

  Alex had left for the convenience store with Nyx, and Alice had decided to spend the night at Jasmine’s. She’d said something about not being able to watch her favorite show because the holovid had been destroyed.

  Since every inch of the house was covered in plants and/or broken, Gabrielle and her sisters traveled down to her lab. It was a good place to go since it was in a separate dimension from the house. They had to fix the house anyway, and Gabrielle had the tools necessary to do that.

  However, at that moment, they were having a conversation of a different nature.

  They sat on a small mattress that Gabrielle had pulled from her D-space. The mattress, which was about as large as the bed in her current room, was situated in a corner of the lab, away from all the devices. Rather than sitting in a circle, it would have been more accurate to say that they were sitting in a triangle.

  “So, that was Alexander S. Ryker,” Michelle said, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. “He is quite handsome. I can see why you like him.”

  “Alex is the coolest,” Gabrielle agreed.

  “I don’t know what you see in that boy,” Ariel contradicted her siblings, huffing as she crossed her arms. “He doesn’t look like much.”

  “On the contrary, he seems quite capable,” Michelle defended. “Did you not notice how he immediately stopped you from swearing? He seems quite adept at dealing with unruly children.”

  “What was that?!”

  Ariel snarled at her sister, but Michelle ignored her and turned back to Gabrielle. “You mentioned that you are having problems getting Alex to realize your true feelings.”

  “Mhm!” Gabrielle crossed her arms and pouted. “Because of this whole ‘marriage candidate’ issue, Alex seems to think I’m only using him as a shield. I’ve been trying to show him that I’m not, but it’s not working out like I had planned.”

  It was actually a little frustration. While she didn’t blame Alex for thinking the way he did, she wished he would realize that she wasn’t just using him. Yes, her initial plan had been to pretend that she was dating him. However, after his speech that day when he’d fought Azazel for her sake, Gabrielle’s desire changed. She wanted to marry him for real.

  “What have you tried doing to convince him of your sincerity?” Michelle asked.

  Gabrielle thought about it for a moment. “Let’s see. I’ve slept with him. I’ve tried to take showers with him, though he always refuses me… um, what else? Oh! I did get to spend some time in a hot spring with him, and I’ve gone clothes shopping with him.”

  “W-wha—sister! What do you mean you’ve slept with and tried to take a shower with him?!” Ariel shouted. Her face reminded Gabrielle of a red star.

  “Showers are more fun when you’re taking them with someone else, and it’s only natural that Alex and I would sleep together. We’re married, or we’re going to be.”

  “That’s not the point!” Ariel flailed her arms as though to emphasize her feelings on the matter. “To take a shower with someone of the opposite gender is… it’s…”

  “Please excuse Ariel,” Michelle said. “She’s still a child when it comes to adult matters.”

  “Who’s a child?!”

  “Anyway, I don’t think what you’ve been doing is going to work,” Michelle continued. “Alex appears to have been raised on different values than you have. What you need to do is appeal to him in a way that he can understand.”

  Gabrielle didn’t know what her sister was talking about, but that didn’t surprise her. Michelle knew a lot more about relationships than she did. Her sister was really good at playing these games called dating simulations. Gabrielle didn’t know what a dating simulation was, but it sounded romantic, and her younger sister often bragged about how she always got the harem ending—whatever that meant—on her first try.

  Anyway, because of that, she knew that Michelle would be able to help her.

  “What should I do?”

  Michelle’s smile looked kinda weird to Gabrielle. It made her think that her sister was hiding several secrets. That thought vanished when Michelle pulled out a tablet, set it on the mattress between them, and turned it on. Several tiny figures with big eyes and cherubic faces appeared on the screen. A title showed up seconds later.

  “Love Love—Make Him Fall for You,” Gabrielle read out loud. “What’s this?”

  “One of my games,” Michelle said. “The best way to help you get Alex is to do research on how to make your feelings reach him. This game will show you how to do that. Once you’ve beaten the game, we’ll have you and Alex go on a date, and you’ll put everything you learned in the game to good use.”

  The more Gabrielle thought about it, the better Michelle’s idea sounded. It was perfect. She understood now. The reason that her feelings hadn’t reached Alex was because she’d been going about this the wrong way, but if she did as Michelle said, then the chances of making Alex recognize that her feelings were genuine would go up.