Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
*Flash!*
"We're back." Tatsuo muttered as he and Tio appeared in his bedroom in the Sasazuka apartment after a flash of light. Then, as if he remembered something important, Tatsuo's eyes widened and he turned around to look at his bed. "Phew! She's not doing anything in my bed this time."
Of course, Tatsuo was talking about what happened when he returned from slaying wyverns in Sumire's world the last time he left for a trip to another world.
"It would seem that Sumire-Sama was able to keep Mai-San in check." Tio said while covering her smile with her hand fan.
Not long ago, Tatsuo, Aletia, and Tio had just said goodbye to James and the rest of the people he met while in that world. And while Tatsuo and Tio were teleported here when the [Dimensional Travel Ticket's] duration ended, Aletia was transported back to the apartment in Sumire's world.
Before that, the party James mentioned took place on the rooftop of the Alaverus Estate. And Tatsuo, Aletia, and Tio found out first hand that James was not bragging when he said he was quite good when cooking on the grill. Though it was not at the same level as Alfonzo's cooking, it was on par with Grayfia's and Zest's.
During the party, nothing of note happened, other than Venelana getting a bit drunk and asking Tatsuo to join her peerage. Though, Tatsuo politely rejected her. However, Tatsuo's rejection caused Venelana to burst into tears, though, Tatsuo figured they were fake, before she threw herself into James arms and asked him to comfort her.
That naturally led to an argument between Rias and her mother. And everyone decided that the two of them going back and forth, with James in the middle, would be good as entertainment for the evening.
Though, Issei did have a sour expression on his face the whole time. Mostly, suffering from jealousy because he did not have a harem of his own.
"Yeah, thank goodness." Tatsuo muttered.
"Anyway, now that we're back, what do you plan to do, Tatsuo-Sama?" Tio asked curiously.
'Damn it...' Tatsuo muttered. 'Now she's adding 'Sama' when she says my name. Is this because I won't let her call me master?"
"*Sigh* What's with the 'Sama,' Tio?" Tatsuo asked exasperatedly.
"Originally, I only used it to refer to Sumire-Sama." Tio replied. "However, now that I think about it, it's quite befitting for me to use it when referring to you as well, Tatsuo-Sama."
'You know what?' Tatsuo said to himself, mentally throwing his hands up. 'As long as she's not calling me Master in public, I can deal with this.'
"Anyway, to answer your question, I'm gonna finally record 'Yo!'" Tatsuo said, answering Tio's earlier question. "I'll just call Yakumo-Chan to see if she wants to watch the recording process, first."
*Bang!*
Before Tio could reply, however, the door to Tatsuo's room burst open. And to no one's surprise, it was Sumire who burst through it.
"Tatsu-Chan! Welcome home!" Sumire shouted as she threw herself into Tatsuo's arms and started raining kisses all over his face. "Mommy missed you!"
"*Sigh* I missed you, too, Mom." Tatsuo replied while patting Sumire on the back.
To Tatsuo's surprise, Sumire did not continue to pepper him with kisses. Instead, she jumped off of him and grabbed his hand. Then, she started pulling him towards the door.
"Come on, Tatsu-Chan" Sumire shouted excitedly. "Since you weren't here for the New Year, I made all the New Year's specialties for breakfast. You can tell me about your trip while eating. I'm sure Mai-Chan and Kasumi-Chan would like to know, too."
With his mother's enthusiasm as infectious as it was, Tatsuo could only smile while letting himself be dragged along. However, before he got too far, Tatsuo reached out and took Tio's hand to drag her along, too.
Naturally, such an action surprised Tio. However, instead of resisting Tatsuo's pull, Tio wrapped her hand around Tatsuo's and followed along with a smile and a slight blush on her cheeks. Though, she would admit that she was a little disappointed when Tatsuo let go of her hand before they entered the dining room, where Mai and Kasumi were waiting for them.
At the same time, Tatsuo felt a little guilty for just letting go of Tio like that. Yet, the guilt was not enough to stop him from doing so. Because he had no intention of dealing with one of Mai's tantrums right after getting back.
Like that, Tatsuo and Tio told Sumire, Mai, and Kasumi about their trip to James' world. And while Sumire was interested in implementing some of Scáthach's training regimen into the one she made for the others, she found Tatsuo's retelling of his interaction with Aislynn the most entertaining.
Unfortunately, that was the exact opposite for Mai. The fact that there were so many thieving cats trying to take her Tatsu-Kun away was making her blood boil. And the one who bothered her the most was Lilith. She already had a husband, so what if he was dead and an asshole. Why did she have to try and sink her claws into her Tatsu-Kun?
As for Kasumi, she only smiled, happy that Tatsuo and Tio seemed to enjoy themselves, even if the training they went through was quite harsh.
"So, what do you plan to do for the rest of the day, Tatsu-Chan?" Sumire asked just as Tatsuo and Tio put their chopsticks down.
"Well, like I was telling Tio, I'm gonna record something.' Tatsuo replied.
"Oh! Are you gonna record something for your album?" Sumire asked excitedly. "Does that mean that the studio is gonna get its first real workout?"
"Yeah." Tatsuo replied with a nod. "I just need to see if Yakumo-Chan wants to come over to watch the process."
"That girl again?" Mai growled. "She's over here all the time. I thought I'd get a break from her during the Winter break. Why does she have to keep disrupting my lovey-dovey time with Tatsu-Kun?"
*Bang!*
Before Mai could rant any further, Sumire jumped out her seat, a harisen, a giant Japanese paper fan, appearing in her hand before she slammed it down on Mai's head, causing the angry kunoichi to hold her head in pain.
"Stop that, Mai-Chan." Sumire said sternly. "Yakumo-Chan is a nice girl. In fact, I wouldn't mind if she married my Tatsu-Chan one day."
Immediately, Mai, despite the pain her head was in, raised her head and looked at Sumire with shock. In fact, her shock was so great that it looked as if her whole world had ended. The shock was so bad that she could not even think to mention the promise she mentioned so often in the past. She just stared at Sumire with her eyes and moth wide open.
"I think you broke her, Mom." Tatsuo said as he looked at Mai with a hint of amusement in his eyes. "How's she gonna be your assistant if she's like that?"
"Oh, don't worry about her." Sumire said casually as the harisen disappeared from her hands. "Mai-Chan is just a drama queen. Besides, I already told you that I could change the law on monogamy if I really wanted to. So, there's nothing for her to worry about."
"I doubt people will react too well to that, though." Kasumi pointed out. "Because even if you change it, the thought of monogamy is ingrained in the people's minds."
"Hmm... That's true." Sumire said while rubbing her chin with her thumb and index finger. A moment later, however, she shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "whatever, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess."
Tatsuo could only look at his mother helplessly when he heard that. Meanwhile, Tio just continued to smile. Though the thought of polygamy being legal interested her. Since she was focused on being Tatsuo's pet, getting the title of a legal wife held little value to her.
"Anyway, I'm gonna go call Yakumo-Chan." Tatsuo said as he stood up from the table with is dirty dishes in hand. "If she can come, I'll start recording when she gets here. But if she can't, I'll start immediately."
"I see." Sumire replied with a nod. "Wellthen, go and call her. Maybe I'll take this chance to talk to her about her psionic abilities, too. But that will definitely change her life forever."
"That's why you've been holding off about talking to her about it for so long, right?" Kasumi asked.
"Yeah." Sumire replied. "She's such a good girl. I kinda feel bad about bringing her into a whole new world."
"Well, you can decide about that later." Tatsuo replied. "For now, I'm gonna go call Yakumo-Chan."
As he spoke, Tatsuo took his dishes into the kitchen. A few moments later, after putting the dishes in the dishwasher, Tatsuo re-emerged from the kitchen and started walking towards his bedroom.
"Oh, and if you're not sure about it, I could talk to Yakumo-Chan about her powers." Tatsuo said. "I mean, it might be easier to take from someone she knows pretty well, right?"
"I'll think about it." Sumire replied. "For now, just go make your phone call."
"Okay." Tatsuo said as he continued to head towards his room.
Not long later, Tatsuo was in his bedroom, sitting on the side of his bed with his smartphone in his hand.
"Ah! I forgot to mention that I didn't get any stronger during the training." Tatsuo muttered while scrolling through his contacts. "Oh well, I'll tell her about it later."
*Ring!* *Ring!* *Ring!*
Putting the thoughts about his physical growth out of his mind for the moment, Tatsuo raised the phone to his ear after selecting Yakumo's phone number from his list of contacts.
{"Hello, Tatsuo-Kun."} Yakumo's calm voice said through the phone. {"Happy New Year. Are you back from your vacation?"}
"Yeah, I'm back." Tatsuo replied with a smile. "And Happy New Year to you, too. How has your break been so far?"
{"Not bad."} Yakumo replied. {"I haven't really done anything. I just spent time with my sister. We visited the shrine together on New Year's Day..."}
Like that, the two talked about their Winter Breaks. Though, Tatsuo had to make some alterations to his story to keep the fact that he could travel to other worlds a secret. Until Yakumo had joined the world of the supernatural, Tatsuo would not tell her about it.
"Well, I'm glad you've had a good time." Tatsuo said after the conversation reached a break. "By the way, are you busy today?"
{"No, I don't have anything planned."} Yakumo replied, having an idea of why Tatsuo was asking. {"Is there something you need?"}
"Well, not really." Tatsuo replied. "But I thought you might want to see when I record my first song. So, if you're free, you wanna come over?"
The phone fell silent for a few moments, Yakumo thinking about her response.
{"Do you think it would be alright if I brought Nee-San along?"} Yakumo asked cautiously. {"She said she wanted to see what it was like to record a song."}
Thinking about Yakumo's sister, Tenma and her tendency to be loud and all over the place, Tatsuo hesitated for a moment. However, when he remembered that Kasumi would be around, his hesitation came to an end.
{"Sure." Tatsuo replied. "Just let her know that she can't touch anything. I know how... curious... she can be."
{"I understand."} Yakumo replied. {"Then, I'll let her know. We should be there around noon, if that's okay."}
"No problem." Tatsuo replied. "I'll see you then."
{"Okay. See you."} Yakumo replied.
With that, the phone call ended.
"Well, I have a few hours to kill." Tatsuo muttered to himself while looking down at the time on his smartphone. "What should I do now?"
Honestly, Tatsuo had not expected Yakumo to be free to come over today. So, he was thinking he would be jumping directly into making the background track for the song before recording. But now, he would have to sit around for a while.
"Well, I guess I should check the [Chat]." Tatsuo said to himself.
*Bang!*
Before Tatsuo could put his thoughts in to action, however, his bedroom door was once again flung open. Yet, instead of his mother standing in the doorway, it was Mai. On top of that, her eyes were a bit teary.
"Mai-Nee?" Tatsuo asked, confused by Mai's state.
"Wahh~~~~~~~~!" Mai immediately burst out crying after Tatsuo said her name. Then, she threw herself at Tatsuo.
In response, Tatsuo caught Mai. However, he was bowled over and ended up lying on his back with Mai crying on his chest.
"Mai-Nee, what's wrong?" Tatsuo asked in a somewhat taken aback tone.
The reason Tatsuo was only somewhat taken aback was because he had gotten used to hearing Mai cry over the several months he has been living with her. But this time, something seemed different.
"Tatsu-Kun... *Sniff* Are you... really going to marry that girl?" Mai asked without raising her head.
Hearing that, Tatsuo could only sigh. He had no idea why Mai was so fixated on him ever since she first saw him, but it hurt his heart to see her like this.
"Honestly, I don't know." Tatsuo replied while looking up at the ceiling. "But I do know that Yakumo-Chan is important to me... A treasure one might say."
Hearing that, Mai gripped Tatsuo's shirt tightly. Not liking the response she heard, even though Tatsuo never affirmed that he would marry Yakumo.
"I mean, but it's way too early to be thinking about marriage for me, anyway." Tatsuo added. "I'm only fifteen. And in Japan, I'd need to be at least eighteen before I could marry anyone, anyway."
Hearing that, plans started to form in Mai's head. And if Tatsuo could hear them, he would be surprised. And not for the obvious reasons.
Tatsuo would have expected Mai to think of something like silently getting rid of the competition. Because despite how she acted at home, Mai is a scarily competent kunoichi. Yet, something totally different was going through her mind right now.
'As much as I just wanna get rid of that girl, I can't do that.' Mai thought to herself. 'Tatsu-Kun just called her a treasure. Although it just sounds like he's using flowery words to explain how he feels about her, Sumire-Sama said that the two of them were dragons... Meaning, he probably sees her as part of his hoard. So, if I were to damage a piece of his hoard, he would hate me. Then, what should I do? Oh! I know. I'll just have to make myself a more tantalizing treasure. That way, I'll be able to monopolize his heart.'
"If I was being honest, I don't know if I could let her go." Tatsuo continued while starting to stroke Mai's hair, unaware of Mai's thoughts. "I mean, the thought of another man even touching her makes it feel like my blood is boiling."
Mai was immediately pulled out of her planning phase. Instead, she started to grit her teeth with jealousy. But Tatsuo's following words brought that to an end, too.
"But I feel the same way about you, Kasumi-Neesan, Violet, Aletia, and Tio, too." Tatsuo said. "You're all very important to me. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to have all of you all to myself, too. But I know that's a real scummy thing to say. Especially since I already have a girlfriend in another world."
Unfortunately for Tetsuo, Mai, while selectively filtering out all the other girls' names and making Tatsuo's sentences singular instead of plural, had completely missed every word he said after he declared that he wanted to have her all to himself. All the anger and uncertainty she was feeling vanished immediately. Then, she shot up, now straddling Tatsuo's waist, and looked down at him with sparkling eyes.
"Huh? Mai-Nee?" Tatsuo asked, confused by Mai's sudden change in attitude.
"If you want me to be all yours, Tatsu-Kun, then take me right now!" Mai shouted as she suddenly dove forward to claim Tatsuo's lips.
*Clap!*
However, before Mai could claim her prize, a hand clamped down around the back of her neck, stopping her forward momentum completely. Even so, Mai flailed her arms, trying her best to kiss Tatsuo with passionate fervor shining in her eyes.
"*Sigh* I didn't stop you when you came in here because I knew you needed to get your feelings off your uselessly big chest." Sumire said, her voice causing Mai to freeze in place. "But why is it that every time I give you an inch, you try to take a mile, Mai-Chan?"
Turning her head slowly with the sound of a creaking hinge, Mai tried her best to smile innocently at Sumire, who was staring at her with a blank expression.
"Sumire-Sama, it's not what it looks like." Mai said, trying to plead her case.
"I'm sure it's not." Sumire said as she shifted her gaze to Mai's hips. "Then, I guess it's just my imagination that you're grinding your hips on Tatsu-Chan, too, right?"
"Exactly." Mai replied shamelessly with a nod while continuing to grind herself on Tatsuo.
"At least stop the damn grinding if you're going to lie to me like that." Sumire said as she flung Mai off of Tatsuo.
Luckily, Sumire decided to be a little gentler than usual, only throwing Mai onto the other side of the exceptionally wide bed. She then turned to look at Tatsuo, her expression turning gentle as she did so.
"And it looks like your bloodline is starting to affect you more and more, Sweetheart." Sumire said as she climbed up onto the bed. Then, she crawled over to Tatsuo's head, raised it, and placed it on her thighs as she continued. "Dragons are greedy by nature. And unfortunately, you've inherited that from me. So, the way you're thinking can't be helped. But you have to remember, you can't force anyone to be with you. Otherwise, a treasure that is always trying to escape is much more trouble than it's worth."
Making a mental note of what his mother said, Tatsuo decided to keep that in mind. But for now, he would simply enjoy his mother's lap pillow and the way her hand gently caressed his head and hair. Asking her about why is growth had seemed to stop despite the hellish training he went through with Scáthach could wait, as well.