Book 4: Chapter 14: Patch 3.0: A Change of Pace

After having made it to the bedroom, Ryouta looks up at the ceiling from his bed. In his old apartment, his fan was one of the few things that had a connection to. It was there for him when he woke up, it was there for him when he felt like being lazy and lying around in bed, it there was for him when he felt sick or tired, and it was there for him whenever he came out of virtual reality.

But now… now that exact same ceiling fan is swishing around above him.

“I still can’t believe you brought that fan,” Cassandra says.

“Hey, I paid for it myself, so there was no way I was going to leave it there,” Ryouta says.

“Yeah, and you lost your security deposit because you left a hole in the ceiling with wires hanging down from it.”

“Not my problem. I’ve got my fan.”

“You get attached to the weirdest things.”

“Does that make you weird?”

Cassandra blinks a few times before understanding what he’s saying. “Sh… you’re weird.”

“You know, you can give me some tsun fanservice every now and then. Come on, tell me to shut up and call me a bastard. You know you want to.”

“You really are a bastard if you try to make me do something I’m trying to stop! Hmph. You don’t tell a drug addict trying to recover that it’ll be okay if they get high every now and then!”

When she puts it that way, it makes Ryouta feel bad and understand how he might be making it harder on her. “Alright, alright. I’m sorry. Just give me some more dere fanservice instead then. You know, be super lovey-dovey and all over me.”

“Tch,” Cassandra looks him over, blushing. “Li-like how? I – I don’t even know where to begin with that sort of thing!”

“I’ll settle for a hug,” Ryouta says, lying on top of the heating pad she brought for him.

“Fine.” Cassandra walks over to him, looks down at him with red on her cheeks, and leans over to hug him.

“A-ow, okay, maybe no fanservice for now,” Ryouta says, hugging her back but only for a few seconds. “It hurts.” He looks at Cassandra and notices something.

She looks… sadistic. That smile and look in her eyes makes him feel like her prey.

“Hah? What’s wrong? I thought you wanted some ‘dere fanservice?’ Come on, honey, let me spoil you!” Cassandra says, rubbing herself against him and hugging him even tighter.

Ryouta is conflicted. On one hand, he’s never seen her be this bold before, but he knows that she’s only like this because she’s doing it to tease him. On the other hand, he wants to cherish this even if she’s doing it with ill intentions.

Unfortunately, his body seriously hurts too much to play around like this. That’s why he grabs one of her boobs.

“He-hey! Where do you think you’re touching?” Cassandra shouts after squeaking from surprise.

“If you get to cause me pain, I get to cause you embarrassment,” Ryouta explains, giving her boob a few more squeezes.

“N-nngh… st-stop that, you pervert!”

“Then stop hurting me!”

Cassandra huffs and pulls away from him, but Ryouta gets a few more squeezes of her breast in before letting go.

“Why are you such a pervert?” she asks him.

“Because I love you.”

Blushing and flustered, Cassandra tries to think of a response when Serra comes running into the room, jumps up onto the bed, and positions herself between Ryouta’s legs. Then she signs that she’s ready to give Ryouta his sexual favors.

“Sorry, but I’m in too much pain,” Ryouta tells her. Serra tilts her head, so he tries to sign it to her instead.

Serra pouts and asks if he really hurts too much.

Ryouta nods his head.

Serra pouts even more, sighs, and rolls over onto her back to rest the back of her head against his crotch while she looks at her phone.

“I don’t know how she does it,” Cassandra says.

“Does what?” Ryouta asks.

“Be… herself. Just, look! She can just ask for sex and rub all over you like it’s nothing!”

“Hey, you can do that to me whenever you want, too.”

“I know! But, still! I don’t know how.”

“By just doing it.”

“But how do you just do it? I don’t get her.”

“Her power level is just super high,” Ryouta says, petting Serra on the top of her head and then groaning from moving his arm.

Serra responds with a grateful rubbing of her head against his crotch.

Cassandra’s phone buzzes.

“Your parents?” Ryouta asks.

“No. Alice. Be right back,” Cassandra says.

A couple of minutes later and Cassandra arrives in the bedroom with Alice in her arms.

“I must admit that I never imagined myself being carried princess style by a girlfriend, but this is wonderful! Please, Cassandra, feel free to not let me down anytime soon,” Alice says.

“My arms are getting tired. His arms are already useless for the next few days, so we can’t let mine get hurt, too,” Cassandra says as she sets Alice down on the bed next to Ryouta.

“You are hurt, my hero?” Alice asks him.

“Pulled muscles,” Ryouta answers.

“Ah! Have you tried to let go of them?”

“Wh…what?”

“Get it? Because they are pulled! You must simply let go of them and then they will be fine!”

Silence.

“Was… was that no good?” Alice asks, looking back and forth between Ryouta and Cassandra. Neither of them looks impressed. If anything, they look like they feel bad for her. “Fine! Rather than attempt humor, I will just recall more of my fantasies!”

“Cheesy jokes are okay,” Cassandra says.

“I laughed on the inside if that counts,” Ryouta says.

Alice surprises Ryouta with a Cassandra-styled, “Hmph!”

Ryouta leans his head closer to her to kiss the side of her own before saying, “By the way, Cass, that thing is tomorrow, right?”

“Ye-yeah,” Cassandra answers, looking away from them.

Serra, not paying any attention to the discussion going on, yawns.

Then Ryouta yawns.

Then Cassandra yawns.

And finally, Alice yawns.

But that makes Ryouta yawn, and then Alice yawns again, and then Cassandra yawns again which makes Serra yawn when she sees Cassandra yawning.

“I think it’s time for bed,” Ryouta says.

“Yeah… I’m going to be mad if I yawn again,” Cassandra says.

“But your yawns sound so cute!” Alice says. “They are both cute and relaxing! I could go to sleep to the sound of your yawns.”

“You’re just as weird as he is.”

“I know! Is that not wonderful?”

“I can’t keep up with you all.”

“We’ll make you keep up whether you want to or not,” Ryouta says.

“I am on my hero’s side! We shall ensure that you stay kept up with us, even if by force! We will secure you in tight ropes and drag you with us,” Alice says.

“I’m pretty sure you’re the one who wants to get tied up and dragged around,” Cassandra tells Alice.

“You are not incorrect with that statement,” Alice says.

Cassandra sighs and says, “I’m going to go make sure that everything is off.”

Once Cassandra leaves the room to go downstairs and turn all the lights off, Ryouta and Alice come up with a plan then bring Serra in on it.

Cassandra has no idea what to expect once she gets back upstairs.

When Cassandra does return, she doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Everybody is still lying down how they were when she left. Well, there’s some space between Ryouta and Alice.

“Come lie down with us!” Alice says, patting the space between her and Ryouta.

“I need to brush my teeth and change first,” Cassandra says.

“I sssaaaaaiiiddddd, come lie down with us!”

“I’m too tired. I’m going to fall asleep if I—”

“Cassandra. I am ordering you to come and lie down.”

“Al-alright.”

Cassandra walks over to the bed, climbs up onto it, and lies down between Alice and Ryouta.

The trap is sprung!

Serra rolls over Ryouta’s legs and plops herself between Cassandra’s, resting her head against Cassandra’s crotch just as she was with Ryouta. Then there’s Alice who rolls onto her side, rolling with enough speed to throw one of her legs over Cassandra’s nearest leg, and she grabs Cassandra’s arm to hug it against her while nuzzling her face up against Cassandra’s shoulder.

Then there’s Ryouta.

He just grabs Cassandra’s hand and holds it since he hurts too much to do anything else.

“It worked!” Alice declares with a proud smile. “There is no escape for you now!”

“He-hey! We’re all still in our clothes we’ve been in all day!” Cassandra pouts.

Serra rolls onto her front, slides a bit farther up Cassandra’s body, and then rests her head down on top of Cassandra’s stomach.

She wants to sign just how soft Cassandra’s stomach is, but she’s smarter than Ryouta and knows not to sign anything like that.

“The light isn’t even off!” Cassandra whines.

“Lights, off!” Alice says.

The lights shut off, leaving the group in darkness on the bed.

“They… they can do that?” Cassandra asks.

“Of course! I ensured that everything in our home could be voice controlled for my own ease,” Alice says.

“Accept defeat, Cass Cass,” Ryouta says.

They don’t get a response from Cassandra.

When they both look at her face, her eyes are shut and her lips are slightly parted as she softly breathes.

Ryouta holds one hand up over Cassandra, and Alice meets that hand with her own in a high-five.

They win.