Skadi, I Have a Girlfriend

Perhaps Mizuki could help her end this miserable fate. At the very least, he could keep her child from sinking into the same tragic destiny and the torment of a short life.

Mizuki: Are You Going to Let Me Sleep?

After eating and drinking their fill, Ch'en naturally had to head back, and Kal'tsit could hardly stay at Penguin Logistics either. Before leaving, though, she found Mizuki and invited him to go—or rather, return—to Rhodes Island.

Since he had a Rhodes Island operator ID, he was naturally part of Rhodes Island. Before long, Texas's squad would also be stationed at Rhodes Island as resident logistics personnel, essentially opening a Penguin Logistics branch there. Mizuki would naturally be going as well.

On the other hand, Skadi and Ho'olheyak's arrival caused another problem: there were not enough rooms. This Penguin Logistics base had the living area downstairs and three double rooms upstairs. The problem was that two of those rooms had been combined into one, and there were now eight people here.

"If only the bar hadn't been torn down."

Texas had a headache. The bar base had plenty of guest rooms, enough to house more than ten people.

"I'll sleep on the couch tonight. We can figure something out tomorrow. We can't have my sister and the others sleeping on the floor the moment they arrive."

Mizuki was quite understanding. After all, he was the only boy present. Thinking about it that way felt a little strange somehow, but neither Texas nor Exusiai was willing to accept it.

"That isn't very good. Let me see if we can squeeze into our bedroom."

"It's a waste for A-Neng and me to take one room. It's fine."

"How about this?" Sora raised her hand. "Texas, Croissant, Miss Ho'olheyak, and I can sleep in one room. Mizuki, Exusiai, Miss Skadi, and Miss Laurentina can sleep in the other. How does that sound?"

That seemed like a pretty good arrangement. Exusiai and Skadi were the closest people to Mizuki, while Laurentina had already had an actual relationship with him. None of those three would mind sleeping in the same room as Mizuki.

"Disagree." ×4

Texas, Ho'olheyak, Exusiai, and Skadi raised their hands at the same time.

"I don't think letting Laurentina sleep with Mizuki is a good idea." That was Texas, a chocolate stick hanging from her mouth.

"No way am I letting this woman sleep in the same bed as my boyfriend!" That was Exusiai, who still remembered what had happened last night. She was genuinely worried that she would open her eyes and see Laurentina sitting on Mizuki again.

"My little brother can only sleep with me!" Skadi declared righteously.

Those three all had their own reasons, so everyone looked at Ho'olheyak, not quite understanding why she wanted to sleep in the same room as Mizuki as soon as she arrived. Sisters were one thing, but this was a bit much.

"He is under my surveillance. My superiors assigned me to remain within ten meters of him whenever possible and observe all of his actions."

Looking at Ho'olheyak's indifferent, even slightly helpless expression, Exusiai and Skadi dearly wanted to curse her out. Unfortunately, Mizuki was still here, and they had to maintain their image.

"Then remove Laurentina and replace her with Ho'olheyak?"

Skadi's suggestion was gloriously ignored. What a joke—there were only two rooms.

"Then it's settled!"

Though she was somewhat disappointed that she could not sleep with Mizuki, Texas had no complaints about the arrangement. Exusiai had truly suffered a few too many blows lately, so she should be allowed to recover. Texas was genuinely afraid that Exusiai would go dark the moment she learned that her best friend also had feelings for Mizuki.

Mizuki, who had been sandwiched between Skadi and Exusiai from beginning to end, looked utterly bewildered. No, was nobody going to ask for his opinion?

But since everything had already been arranged, there was nothing he could do. Mizuki could only help tidy things up. Fortunately, his bed was large enough. Although it had been bought as a double bed, it could still fit four people lying down.

After showering, with Ho'olheyak here this time, Mizuki naturally could not wear just a shirt and an undershirt like before. He also put on a pair of loose capri pants. It probably would not be too hot...

(Yeah, right.)

Once the lights were out, Mizuki realized just how terrible a decision he had made.

Exusiai was in front of him and Skadi behind him. Sandwiched between them, Mizuki suddenly regretted everything. He really should have slept on the couch. He had only considered that Exusiai's sleeping habits seemed rather bad, but he had not expected Skadi to be no better.

Mizuki was currently lying on his side, his back against Skadi as both her arms tightly wrapped around him. His head rested against Skadi's chest. It was a little hot. Skadi was not wearing a nightgown.

In front of him was his girlfriend, Exusiai. Perhaps to compete with Skadi, she had not worn pajamas either, only a set of underwear. Mizuki's excellent night vision let him see Exusiai's hair clearly. Well, honestly, anyone who was not blind could see it, considering how bright the light bulb on Exusiai's head was.

And compared with Exusiai, Skadi was much stronger. Mizuki felt like his ribs were already complaining. Helplessly, he summoned two tentacles and was about to pry Skadi's hands away when he suddenly felt something wrap around his foot.

It was icy cold and had a distinctive texture, like something frosted. It was even crawling up Mizuki's thigh.

Then came a hand. Both instinct and familiarity told Mizuki that it definitely did not belong to Skadi or Exusiai, because both their hands were currently wrapped around him.

By process of elimination, there was only one person who could be doing this—Ho'olheyak.

But Mizuki truly could not understand why she would do this. Could this girl be mentally abnormal like Laurentina?

While Mizuki was thinking, Ho'olheyak's tail had already crawled up to his chest. As if deliberately teasing him, the tip of her tail traced circles over his chest through his clothes.

"Asleep, huh..."

Ho'olheyak had waited an hour after the lights went out before acting, ensuring that Skadi and Exusiai were sound asleep before confirming Mizuki's condition. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat and breathing proved that Mizuki was indeed asleep. This was Ho'olheyak's chance to act.

Of course, she did not intend to do anything life-threatening to Mizuki. Her mission was to observe him. The Melnade Foundation was deeply curious about Mizuki, believing that he might be an earthly agent of some Feranmut.

But to Ho'olheyak, Mizuki was her chance to survive.

As a member of the Feathered Serpent Clan, Ho'olheyak had undergone magical modification since infancy. Her brain had been brutally implanted with countless memories, and her newborn, immature personality had been directly crushed, creating the somewhat twisted self she now possessed.

She had once had many brothers and sisters. As a descendant of the Feathered Serpent, a people of the gods, she should have had a lifespan of several centuries at the very least.

However, none of her siblings had survived that mad surgery. She had been luckier, but only a little luckier. Her lifespan of several centuries had been reduced to less than fifty years. Had Ho'olheyak ever had a childhood? Could she ever enjoy her old age?

The answer was no. Her brain had undergone permanent structural changes.

Yet Mizuki's appearance had surprised and delighted her. Immortal, E001—an error-free codename. Columbia's military had certainly discovered some secret; it was not difficult to infer from Mizuki's codename.

Moreover, Ho'olheyak could sense the vast life force within him, as mighty as the source of life itself. Compared to Mizuki, ordinary people were nothing but fireflies.

She pondered for a moment, then opened her mouth and bit Mizuki's arm with her sharp fangs. Then... she failed to bite through. Well, despite everything, she simply could not bite through.

"How can this be?"

Looking at Mizuki with his eyes closed, Ho'olheyak was utterly confused. As a weapon trained for battle, her teeth could bite through a one-millimeter steel plate. How could she not even pierce Mizuki's skin?

Refusing to believe it, Ho'olheyak bit him again, this time on the shoulder. She even loosened Mizuki's shirt slightly.

But it was still useless. His waist and thighs were the same, even his fingers. Mizuki's skin was absurdly resilient. She suspected that even needles could not pierce it.

Mizuki himself was also baffled. He controlled his heartbeat and adjusted his breathing solely to see what Ho'olheyak intended to do. Yet this woman bit him here and there. It was even a little ticklish. Mizuki could clearly feel that Ho'olheyak's teeth seemed rather sharp on both sides.

He did not understand why Ho'olheyak could not even bite through his skin. He was just curious what this woman was trying to do. If she intended to assassinate him, she should not be doing this. Also, Exusiai and Skadi were sleeping ridiculously deeply.

With the reactions of an Abyssal Hunter, Skadi should have woken up the moment Ho'olheyak made a move. Yet for some reason, beside Mizuki tonight, her consciousness had sunk particularly deeply into dreams.

Exusiai, meanwhile, was simply exhausted. She had not recovered from expending so much energy last night, and she had spent half the afternoon shopping with Mizuki. Naturally, she was sleeping like the dead.

Just as Mizuki was about to open his eyes and ask Ho'olheyak what she was doing, he suddenly felt her hand settle somewhere.

Ho'olheyak had found a place where she could get what she wanted without using her teeth.

At that moment, Mizuki wished even more that he were actually asleep.

Skadi, Calm Down, Sis 1/5

In the deep sea, the Seaborn crawled and drifted about, following Mizuki's orders. The entire Seaborn Brood was multiplying and thriving. Naturally, the encirclement of Aegir had not been relaxed. Aegir alone required absolute attention.

Through the connection Mizuki had established with the Brood, the entire Seaborn Brood was undergoing targeted evolution. Unlike other brethren, who needed to come into contact with one another to share evolutionary traits, Mizuki stood at the very top of the Brood, and his information transmission was far more direct.

The Cat Gang's attack that day had left him burned, so the Brood began evolving heat resistance. Sharp fragments had lodged in his back, so the Brood shared with him the trait of evolved skin toughness.

That was how the Seaborn Brood worked: rapidly evolving, adapting to the environment, adapting to the enemy's methods of attack. That was the Brood. And now that Izumik was managing them, how could they not be happy?

Still, the Seaborn Brood was occasionally confused, because they had noticed that Izumik connected to the Brood's mental network many times without seeming to handle anything important. This puzzled the Seaborn, making them curious about what data Mizuki was uploading.

So after some discussion, they dug out information Mizuki had uploaded through the mental network from a corner of the Brood's data processing. Since they had been in contact with their scaleless brethren on land for a long time, some of the higher-ranking Seaborn were quite intelligent and understood human language.

But they still could not understand what Street Fighter: Supernatural Fighting Evolution, Monster Hunter, Super Racing, and War World meant.

"Gibberish!" (Izumik must have his reasons for uploading these things.)

"Wibby wibby!" (Maybe this is information Izumik acquired during his explorations.)

The Seaborn exchanged opinions in their unique manner. The Brood's network was far more harmonious than humanity's internet. After discussing it for a while longer, the Seaborn first opened the data packets labeled Song of Sand* and Supernatural Fighting Evolution.

One day in the future, when Iberia's Inquisition faced the Seaborn Brood again, they would never have dreamed that they would be sent flying by Dragon Punches and Qigong Cannons.

But that was a matter for the future. Right now, the Seaborn completely followed Izumik's lead. For no other reason than that they had discovered this newly emerged Izumik truly cared about the Brood. He uploaded all kinds of data every day, helping the Brood understand the situation while issuing orders. He did not act like a boss at all.

Then there was Ishar-mla. Damn it, she still had not sent back a single message... No, wait, it seemed she had replied?

The Seaborn suddenly discovered that Ishar-mla had responded. Her meaning translated into roughly these words: Izumik, hehe, hugging him feels so nice, all soft and squishy. Izumik, so amazing! I want to reproduce with Izumik!

The Brood fell silent. Reproducing was the most normal thing imaginable for the Seaborn Brood, but why did Ishar-mla feel so embarrassing? Izumik really was better.

And so, the Seaborn Brood continued its deep learning.

Elsewhere, Skadi had no idea what was happening outside. She was dreaming.

In her dream was an extraordinarily beautiful scene. The night sky was vast, like the reflection of the sea; scattered stars resembled lights in the deep ocean, and the sky and sea seemed to have lost their boundaries.

The air was so humid that it possessed immense buoyancy. With just a gentle wave of one's hand, the body could float weightlessly upward. Many people spread their arms and soared through the night sky, free and peaceful.

But Skadi did not choose to swim toward the sky. She merely floated to the surface, then walked ashore. Looking around, she saw a girl in a red dancing dress sitting in the distance, her face impossible to make out. They shared similarly soft white hair, and Skadi felt an unusual closeness toward her.

This dream again. Skadi could not help thinking so. Before she had left her homeland, she had dreamed of this girl who looked so much like her.

She slowly approached, wanting to hear what the other girl was murmuring.

"Izumik... he's much cuter than I imagined, yet so powerful. If we mated, we would surely produce even stronger offspring. Mizuki is a nice name too."

Though she did not know why the other girl called her little brother Izumik, nor why the name felt so familiar, Skadi clenched her fist without a second thought and threw a punch.

Yet she hit nothing. The dreamlike illusion shattered, and Skadi felt herself sink into water.

In reality, Mizuki had just closed his eyes, intending to sleep and forget everything that had happened tonight. Fortunately, Ho'olheyak had not done anything outrageously rebellious like Specter. Though if Exusiai and Skadi found out, she would probably die here tonight—not even ashes left behind.

But fortunately, she was a gentleman. She had only used her mouth and hands, but had not gone that far. Otherwise, Mizuki could not have kept pretending. He was mainly worried that if he woke Skadi and Exusiai, Ho'olheyak's life would be in danger, and this home would probably be torn apart too.

And Exusiai had just been provoked by Laurentina last night. If Ho'olheyak provoked her again, Mizuki feared his girlfriend would go dark.

I'll sleep on the couch tomorrow.

Thinking this, Mizuki was about to close his eyes. He would just forget about tonight and pretend it had never happened. He could not exactly ask Ho'olheyak outright why she had done that. Could she have some hidden hardship?

Then, just as Mizuki was preparing to sleep, he experienced what gravity truly meant. He got a taste of how Jotaro must have felt facing a steamroller.

"So heavy..."

Mizuki could not help opening his eyes, only to see his sister pressing down on him. He was very familiar with the look in those red eyes. Honestly, it was exactly the same as Laurentina last night, her entire face conveying one message: "I want to be a mother."

"Calm down, Sis. Don't do this."

"Izumik."

Unexpectedly, Skadi called Mizuki by his other name. Her voice was exceptionally gentle and soft, as if she had become a different person.

This was not Skadi. Mizuki inexplicably had that feeling. But whether it was or not did not matter. He just wanted to sleep. He had finally waited for Ho'olheyak to lie down, only for Skadi to start again. The couch! No matter what, he was sleeping on the couch tomorrow!

Ho'olheyak, having just eaten and drunk her fill, was naturally not asleep yet. She clicked her tongue softly, finding that the taste was unexpectedly good. She liked sweet things well enough, and this flavor was not cloying. More importantly, she could clearly feel that after consuming it, the faint sense of decay in her body had stopped. This method really worked.

Who would have thought these siblings played this kind of game? Tsk... pretty impressive.

Ho'olheyak forcefully pretended to sleep. Whether Exusiai woke up or not was none of her concern.

But the few of them had clearly forgotten one thing: although the bed could support the weight of four people, supporting Skadi was asking a little too much of it.

"Ah!" ×4

The next instant, the bed collapsed, and everyone woke up.

Ho'olheyak's Ambition 2/5

As for why the bed had collapsed last night, after successfully destroying a scale capable of weighing up to 200 kilograms, the girls finally gained a clear understanding of Skadi's weight. They could not help marveling at how sturdy Penguin Logistics's chairs were, considering nothing had happened yesterday.

"Waaah..."

With her weight exposed, Skadi shed bitter tears. What could she do? She was just that heavy—what was she supposed to do about it? She wanted to be lighter too.

"How does she have that figure with that weight?"

Exusiai was utterly shaken. Skadi's body showed no hint of fat whatsoever. If anything, she was the kind of woman whose figure could not be hidden by any clothing, a level that made Exusiai jealous enough to smash her head into a wall.

"Is this what Aegir are like?"

Even Ho'olheyak could barely keep a straight face. Just looking at Skadi, no one could have imagined her weight was this terrifying. Still, it was fortunate that she and Mizuki had not actually gone all the way last night, or Ho'olheyak would have had trouble sleeping instead.

"Looks like we need to replace the bed with one that has especially strong weight capacity, or it won't be able to withstand all that tossing around."

When Sora mentioned tossing around, Skadi and Exusiai blushed at the same time. Laurentina nodded in strong agreement, while Croissant happened to glimpse Texas's reaction and could not help sharply inhale.

Wait, Texas, why are you blushing too?! Is Exusiai really that miserable?

Mizuki walked over to Skadi. Seeing his sister crying so pitifully, he could not help reaching out to remove her hat and gently rub her head.