“Look at those sumptuous lips. Don’t you just want to nibble on them?”
“Do not be so crass. If Alex was going to do anything, a soft kiss would be it.”
“Ugh, how disgusting. If he was going to kiss her, it should be passionate and filled with lust.”
“Only a Daemon would say that.”
“And only an Angelisian would think kissing someone softly was somehow romantic.”
Be quiet, you two.
Alex closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, attempting both to calm down as his desire to kiss Gabrielle suddenly skyrocketed and also to quell his growing sense of shame. This was just like what happened with Nyx. He was getting aroused because he felt a desire to do something to Gabrielle that he had no right to do. Kissing an innocent girl while they were asleep? Disgusting. Perverted. Shameful.
“There’s nothing disgusting about it. Quit denying yourself and just go for it.”
“Do not be so hasty, Alex. While there’s nothing wrong with what you are feeling, you must also consider Gabrielle’s feelings.”
“Don’t listen to this prude. Just go in and nibble on those lips!”
“Act with prudence. We still don’t know if Gabrielle even knows what a kiss is.”
“That’s why he should take the lead.”
“He should only do that after Gabrielle has given her consent.”
“Fuck consent. She already sneaks in bed with him. Why wouldn’t she be okay with it?”
“There are steps that one must follow, Daemon.”
“Whatever. I think you’re just—”
SHUT UP!
Alex roared inside of his mind. He waited a moment, then two, and then three, all to see if the two voices would speak up again. When neither said anything, he sighed in relief.
“Gabrielle.” He placed a hand on her shoulder to wake the girl up. “Gabrielle. Wake up. Breakfast is ready.”
Gabrielle’s eyes slowly fluttered open as the girl stirred. She sat up, stretching her arms above her head, while her wings extended from her back and flapped as though also stretching. Alex thought it was adorable, but most of his attention was focused on her chest.
Her bare chest.
Alex hadn’t realized it until just now, but Gabrielle was not wearing a stitch of clothing. Her large breasts jiggled as she moved her arms. Impossible big, they jutted from her chest like a pair of hills. Alex imagined they would feel fairly heavy if he lifted them. Light pink nipples beckoned him forward. Slowly, his eyes trailed down. He already knew it, but seeing it again just confirmed that Gabrielle did indeed have natural silver hair.
“Alex… hello.”
“G-Gabrielle! Where are your clothes?!”
“My clothes?” Gabrielle looked down. She blinked. Then she looked back up. “I don’t like wearing clothes when I work on something small like Mr. Digitizer.”
“Mr. Digitizer?” Alex blinked as his mind switched gears. He looked at the device. “Is that what this is?”
“Yup!” Gabrielle grinned broadly as she gestured to the device on her table. “Mr. Digitizer is something new that I’m working on. Instead of transporting something into a separate dimension like the D-space, it converts objects into digital data and stores it inside of a hard drive.”
Alex frowned as he tried to work out how such an idea could possibly work. He could accept warping dimensions and whatnot since Gabrielle played with dimensions like children played video games, but converting something that had mass into digital data didn’t sound possible, unless…
“Does this use the theory that everything in our solar system can be represented in 1s and 0s?” he asked.
“No.” Gabrielle frowned at him. “Not everything can be represented as 1s and 0s. What kind of theory is that?”
“Never mind,” Alex muttered.
“This uses an advanced form of string theory. Instead of everything being made up of strings, everything is made of data, and the data that our universe is made of can be converted into digital format by using a converter like this one. I haven’t tested it yet,” she added as a last second addition. “I’m still in the process of building it.”
Alex nodded along with her explanation; this advanced theory was probably an Angelisian theory since humans didn’t have one like it. He somehow doubted Angelisians had string theory. Gabrielle was probably trying to explain it in a way he could understand. Saying that, the idea did have merit.
In some ways, their galaxy was made up of data. A theory had been proposed long ago about how their universe consisted of data that told everything about the world, from how it worked to how it affected the senses, and it was this data that humans, that all creatures, received and interpreted in the form of their five senses. Even humans and other animals were supposedly made up of billions of complicated sets of data in the form of atoms, or so the theory went.
However, if the theory itself was true, there were a lot of potential repercussions. A good example was the idea that they were really just fictional characters who’d been created by beings from the fourth dimension, and all of the struggles they went through was being created by these fourth dimensional beings for the purpose of entertainment.
Such theories had never been proven, of course, but the theory Gabrielle proposed gave this other theory merit.
It was as all these thoughts floated through his head that Alex remembered Gabrielle was still naked. Slowly, he raised his hands and covered his eyes… tried to cover his eyes. The sight was too tempting to pass up, so even though he felt guilty, he ended up peeking at her between his fingers.
“Gabrielle?”
“Yes?”
“Could you please put some clothes on?”
Gabrielle looked down at herself, and then back up at him.
“Sure,” she said, standing up and moving toward her closet, which was where all of her Mars clothing and her new invisible crisis suit was kept.
Alex sighed in relief. The day had only just started, but it already looked like this one was going to be a doozy.
Same as every other day, he lamented to himself.
3
Fortune favored Gabrielle and Alex; Nyx had not eaten all of the food. It seemed she had been considerate and saved enough food for them. When they came down that morning, two plates had been set aside for them both. Gabrielle had thanked Nyx, of course, and so had Alex, before they quickly scarfed down breakfast. Afterward, Alex and Nyx walked Gabrielle, Ariel, Alice, and Michelle to school.
Gabrielle met up with her friends. Kazekiri and Ryoko were no longer attached to each other, but it looked like sticking them together was no longer necessary. They didn’t speak to each other. However, they didn’t argue either. It wasn’t much, but Gabrielle thought it was a definite improvement.
As she was sitting on the third level in her classroom with Kazekiri, Selene, Serah, and Ryoko, the doors down below slid open and a voice shouted.
“Gabrielle, my dear, my sweet, my flower, I, the King of Romance, have come for you!”
The person who had appeared was wearing a white tuxedo that was different from everyone else’s plaid pants and blazer combination. He had bright blond hair that was slicked back. His eyes were blue. Gabrielle had seen him numerous times already, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember his name.
The blond man walked up the stairs toward her, his hand extended in a grand gesture. “My love, you are the only one whose beauty can captivate me so. Please, allow me, the King of Love, the sweep you off your feet!”
The blond knelt before Gabrielle and took her hand in his. He stared into her eyes. Why was he staring into her eyes so hard? It looked like he was trying to drill holes through her with his gaze. Creepy.
Gabrielle responded to this man the same way she had done every time he appeared.
“Who are you again?”
The reaction around the room was instant. The whole class burst out laughing. Ryoko and Serah were the worst perpetrators, bent over the table and howling w
ith laughter as they were, but even Kazekiri was snickering into her hand while trying to look stern. Gabrielle just smiled. She didn’t really know what was so funny.
“W-why is it that you can never remember my name?” The blond cried out. “I’m Jameson de Truante, the most handsome man in this entire school. I am so handsome that people often call me the King of Good Looks.”
“Hmm…” Gabrielle crossed her arms. That’s right. This boy was Jasmine’s older brother, wasn’t he? She remembered now. However… “I’m sorry, but you’re nowhere near as handsome as Alex.”
“Hurk!”
Jameson jerked backwards as though he’d been shot through the heart with something, though all this did was cause him to lose his balance. With a loud squawk that reminded her of an Angelisian parocetian (a lizard found on Angelisia that sounded like a parrot), he rolled down the stairs, bounced along the floor, and hit the stage with a harsh thud. And there he lay, insensate to the world around him.
“Oh! That was rich!” Ryoko continued to laugh. “He keeps… keeps making passes at you… and you… you can’t even remember his name!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!”
“Serves the jerk right,” Serah added.
Kazekiri sighed. “I normally would not approve of such behavior, but Jameson has always been a problem child, so I will let this slide once.”
“Um, thank you?” Gabrielle said, not quite sure if she should be grateful or not.
“Don’t worry,” Selene said upon seeing her confused look. “You might not understand right now, but you did a very good thing.”
“Oh.” Gabrielle paused, and then beamed brightly at her friend. “Okay!”
Class eventually settled down, though Jameson remained lying on the floor. Students chatted about this and that. Gabrielle engaged in her own conversation with her friends, discussing the possibility of going to sing karaoke this weekend. Of course, she invited Kazekiri to come as well, to which the young woman replied that she would think about it. Gabrielle hoped that meant she would come.
It wasn’t long before the students were forced to settle down as their teacher came in and barked at them.
Their homeroom teacher, a stern-looking man with neatly combed gray hair named Mr. Sanchez, took one look at Jameson, sighed, and then said, “Does anyone want to explain why Mr. Truante is lying unconscious on the floor?”
No one said anything. Mr. Sanchez sighed.
“Right. Someone get Mr. Truante to the nurse’s office. I don’t want him lying on the floor while I teach.”
Class began as it usually did. Homeroom was mostly used for self-study, so the students were allowed to work on anything so long as it was school related.
Gabrielle frowned as she realized that she had nothing to study, having already done all of her homework and studied up on the two upcoming tests she would have in math and history. Since students could choose what courses to take, Gabrielle was only taking courses that interested her, and thus, she had studied ahead. Did that mean she should find something else to do?
“Um, excuse me, Mr. Sanchez?” Gabrielle waved her hand. “What if you’re already done with all your school work and studying?”
Mr. Sanchez raised an eyebrow. “Are you telling me that you expect me to believe you have finished all of your homework and studied for your tests?”
“Yes.”
“Ms… Angelise, was it? While I am sure you believe you have done all the required studying necessary, I would like to remind you that Atreyu Academy is the foremost school in Mars City—no, on Mars itself. Our academy has strict academic standards that even geniuses have trouble keeping pace with. You are a brand-new student who has only been here for several days. Please, do not lie to me and grab your material to study.”
“But I’m not lying,” Gabrielle said.
“That will be quite enough, Ms. Angelise.”
“But—”
“Ms. Angelise!” Mr. Sanchez snapped. “Do not talk back to me, pull out your material, and start studying.”
As Mr. Sanchez proceeded to ignore her, Gabrielle puffed out her cheeks and sat down. She didn’t know much about Mr. Sanchez, but from this conversation, she had determined that she did not like him at all. He was mean. Not only was he mean, he didn’t believe her when she said she had finished doing all of her homework and studied all the required material.
This is just like that time when Bara-bara didn’t believe I had built his new battleship from scratch.
Thinking about Bara-bara made her remember the second biggest reason she had run away from Angelisia. It wasn’t something she wanted to think about, though, so she did her best to put it out of her mind.
Gabrielle wondered if she should prove to Mr. Sanchez that she really had done all of her work and studying. When Bara-bara had laughed in her face and called her a pretentious brat, she had taken his new battleship apart right before his eyes to prove that she was the one who had built it. But what could she do here to prove that she’d studied all the required material? She didn’t have a battleship to take apart. She just had her… tests…
That’s it!
She stood up. “Mr. Sanchez!”
Her homeroom teacher sighed. “What is it now?”
“I would like to take the tests now, to prove to you that I did do all the studying required.”
“Sit back down, Ms. Angelise,” Mr. Sanchez said. “I don’t have to time to listen to you spout nonsense.”
“It isn’t nonsense!” Gabrielle argued. “It’s—”
“Sit. Down.”
Gabrielle didn’t think herself the type who got mad easily. Getting upset at others just wasn’t in her nature, but right then, she was mad. The only time she’d been angrier than she was now had been when Alex was nearly killed by Nyx. However, unlike Nyx, who had proven herself to be genuinely remorseful, this man clearly had no remorse for his words.
“Take it easy, Gabrielle,” Selene said, tugging on Gabrielle’s sleeve to make her sit back down. “Just sit down and pretend you’re doing something. Getting upset at the teacher isn’t going to help anything.”
“I guess…”
Gabrielle sat back down and tried to pretend she was studying, but much of her mood was ruined. She really hoped the rest of her school day wasn’t like this. Her entire reason for coming to school was so she could have fun with her friends and learn more about human culture. If she couldn’t have fun, then what was she going to school for?
Fortunately, the rest of school was nowhere near as bad as homeroom. In fact, both her math and science teachers praised her for acing their exams, and her engineer professor, a woman wearing a grease-stained spacer suit, had been impressed by her all-purpose tool. Many of the students also expressed admiration for her talent at building things. The guys loved it when she repaired the engines of an old shuttle they had been working on.
Of course, repairing a fuel-based engine was easy, since it was a simple engine-type that used fuel cells and combustion to power it. It was nothing like the Angelisian pulse generator that she had built for the Angelisian Military. That had been tough since it required creating an entirely new type of energy, or rather, discovering a type of energy that hadn’t been thought to exist.
She didn’t say anything about their lack of advanced technology. Gabrielle knew that the humans of this solar system were behind technologically, and she knew that not every human was going to be a genius like Alex. It kind of sucked, but it was also fun to learn about human engineering. She even had a few ideas of incorporating human technology into her Angelisian inventions.
School eventually ended. Gabrielle walked out of the gates with Kazekiri, Selene, Serah, and Ryoko. Alice, Ariel, Jasmine, and Michelle were already at the front gate. With them were Alex and Nyx.
However, they were not the only one’s present.
“Look,” Alex said with a sigh, “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but I am not challenging you to a duel, and I can’t offer you Gabrielle’s hand in
marriage because that’s not my choice to make.”
“And I am telling you,” Arthur began, “that I am not requesting this duel for Gabrielle’s hand in marriage. This is a challenge I am issuing to you for the sake of seeing who between us is superior.”
“And I’m not interested.”
“Because you’re afraid?”
“Because I don’t care.”
“Alex!” Gabrielle raced ahead of her friends, ready to pounce on Alex—when Michelle gave her a look.
“Don’t go after Alex anymore. Pretend you aren’t interested. Guys like it when you play hard to get.”
Gabrielle slowed to a stop in front of the group, quivering in place as her natural desire to hug Alex fought against her sister’s advice. She took a deep breath. She held it in. Then she released it. Okay. She was good now.
“Gabby,” Alex greeted with a smile, ignoring Arthur altogether. “How was school?”
“Don’t ignore me!” Arthur shouted.
“It was good!” Gabrielle chirped. “I had some problems with Mr. Sanchez, but after homeroom ended, the rest of school was fun. A lot of the technology you guys possess is really retro, but I think working with old technology was even more fun than if I had the latest equipment.”
“I’m glad you had a good time.” Alex smiled.
“Hey! Are you really going to ignore a prince?!” Arthur pointed a quivering finger at Alex’s back.
“Hey there, Alex. You’re looking scrumptious toda—waaa!”
Ryoko darted past Gabrielle, slipped behind Alex, and tried to grope him. Tried was the keyword since she failed. The moment she tried to stick her hands under his shirt, Alex grabbed her arm, twisted around, kicked the back of her knees, and put her in some kind of grappling technique or something. Everyone was shocked. Even Alex seemed shocked.
“Ouch! Ouch! Alex, you’re gonna break my arm!”
“Oh, crap!” Alex let go and jerked his hand back. “I’m sorry, Ryoko! When you came up behind me, my body reacted on its own.”
“No, no. I think I’m the one at fault,” Ryoko admitted. “Given everything that’s happened, I should have realized you’d have those fighting instincts.” She winked at him. “To be honest, being roughed up by you is kind of hot.”
A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol 6 Page 8
