Alex froze, his mind waging an internal debate. The moment passed quickly, and he decided to just be honest.
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “You’re incredibly cute—beautiful even—and I won’t lie to you and say that I didn’t get—that my body didn’t respond to what happened. At the same time, I feel so guilty. I did something horrible to you, something that I can never forgive myself for doing. Worse still, you weren’t even awake and therefore didn’t have the chance to stop me. And I know you hate perverted things. That’s why… that’s why I…”
Alex froze.
Pat. Pat. Pat.
“It’s okay,” Nyx’s gentle, if emotionless, voice reached his ears. “I forgive you.”
Alex finally looked up to see Nyx looking down at him. Her face remained blank, dead, but he thought there was something in her eyes, a flicker of some recognizable emotion. Because of his own emotional disarray, he couldn’t even begin to guess at what it was, or what it meant.
“I… I don’t understand. You forgive me?”
“Yes,” Nyx said simply.
“Why? After what I did, why would you—”
“Because you saved me,” Nyx explained, and then looked away. Alex could’ve sworn there was a hint of redness on her cheeks. “You are the first person I can ever remember who has willingly risked their life for me. What’s more, you are my target. I tried to assassinate you. Despite this, you chose to rescue me. You saved me from those law enforcement officers, and then you took me to a doctor who could fix my nanomachines. Even though you did something perverted to me, you didn’t do it because you wanted to, but because you had to in order to save my life. So yes, I forgive you.”
As he stared at Nyx, Alex wondered how she ever became an assassin. She was strong, yes, and her abilities lent themselves well to her profession, but she didn’t have the mentality of an assassin. She was quiet, but she had morals, integrity. Those were not traits that he imagined an assassin having.
“Thank you,” Alex muttered.
“You are welcome.”
“So what happens now?”
“Now?” Nyx tilted her head, contemplating. “After what has happened, I have decided that you are no longer my target. You are nothing like my employer said. You are a good person, a kind person, perhaps even someone who is too kind-hearted for his own good.”
“Well, I’ve never heard someone say that before.”
“I do not kill people like you,” Nyx continued. “I only kill people who have committed atrocious crimes that warrant their death, and while I did accept a contract to kill you, I have decided that it’s null and void in light of what happened between us.”
“So I was right.” Alex smiled at the girl. “I knew you couldn’t be evil. Karen kept saying that you were dangerous, but you’re only a danger to people who deserve it. When you were being chased by the police, you didn’t kill a single officer, despite how doing so would have made it easier to escape. You’re a good person.”
Nyx looked away from him. It was only for a second, but in between the time it took for her to turn her head, Alex could have sworn he saw her blush. But, no… he shook his head. This girl wasn’t the type to get embarrassed. He must have been seeing things.
He snapped out of his musings when the girl began walking away. “What the… Nyx, where are you going?”
Nyx paused. She didn’t turn around, but she did turn her head to look at him. “Now that you are no longer my target, I have no reason to stay here. Besides, I need to have a conversation with my former employer about what happens when people lie to me.”
Of course she would leave. Did you really think she would stay here?
Alex didn’t know why he felt so depressed by the thought of Nyx leaving. He hadn’t known her for that long. Then again, he hadn’t known Gabrielle that long either, and the thought of her leaving drove a stake through his heart. Maybe he just became attached to people too easily?
“Why don’t you stay here,” Alex blurted out before his brain caught up with this mouth.
This time, Nyx did turn fully around. What’s more, she was displaying more emotion than he’d ever seen from her. Her wide eyes and the way her mouth formed a pretty o-shape was rather fetching. It was also somewhat amusing.
So even she can be surprised… Huh.
“You want me to stay with you?”
“Yes,” Alex said. There was no going back now.
“Why?”
“Because…” Alex paused. What should he say? That he didn’t want her to be an assassin anymore? That he didn’t want her to kill? She probably wouldn’t take kindly to that. “… Because I want to provide you with more than just a place to stay. I want to give you a home.”
Nyx hesitated. “I still have to deal with my client.”
“Your client will probably show up at some point to figure out why I’m not dead yet,” Alex countered. “If you stay with me, you’re bound to run into him.”
Alex and Nyx stared at each other. With her emotionless gaze, Alex understood that he was at a disadvantage in the staring department, but he didn’t back down. Another moment of silence passed. Nyx looked away first.
“Your words make sense,” Nyx said at last. “I will wait until my former employer comes to find out why I haven’t killed you and confront him then.”
“You’ll stay with me until then?” Alex asked.
“Logic dictates that staying close to you, my previous target, would be the best way to ensure that a confrontation with my former employer happens.” Nyx nodded to herself. “Therefore, I have decided to stay with you.”
Alex didn’t know why he felt so relieved, but he couldn’t deny that he was glad Nyx was going to stay with him.
Perhaps it’s because I still feel the need to atone for my sins against her.
“Then from now on, my home is your home, Nyx.”
With the light playing off her midnight hair, Nyx nodded, and for the first time ever, she smiled at him.
It was one of the most beautiful things Alex had ever seen.
EPILOGUE
GABRIELLE ANGELISE
Gabrielle returned home bothered. She didn’t know why her chest felt so tight at seeing Alex and Kiri-Kiri together, but watching them share an ice cream had made her heart feel as though something were constricting it.
Alex and Kiri-Kiri went on a date…
Gabrielle frowned and rubbed her chest. The idea of Kiri-Kiri getting a date with Alex before her was somewhat worrying. She’d been trying to get Alex to realize that she was in love with him for a while now, but he still kept his distance. He treated her kindly, and she knew that he liked spending time with her, but he wasn’t returning her affection… and he refused to take a bath with her for some reason.
She knew what the problem was. It was all Papa’s fault. Papa and his stupid marriage candidates. If it wasn’t for them, she was sure that Alex would already be in love with her. They always managed to ruin things for her.
“I can’t give up,” Gabrielle stated as she closed the door to her room. “If I can’t make him fall in love with me on my own, then I’ll just have to find someone who can help me!”
Fortunately, she knew just the right person who could help her out. Her younger sister, Michelle. Despite being two years younger, Michelle knew a lot more about dating and relationships than she did. She spent nearly all of her time playing dating sims.
Gabrielle didn’t know what a dating sim was, but Michelle would often brag about how she’d always get the harem route on her first try. Of course, she didn’t know what that meant either, but it must have been an impressive accomplishment. Why else would her sister brag about it?
Sitting down at her desk and typing several commands into her console, Gabrielle called her younger sister.
It didn’t take long before the communication line went through, and it took even less time before the line connected. An image appeared on her console’s screen of her younger sister’s gently
smiling face.
“Oh, Honorable Sister,” Michelle greeted. “This is a surprise. I heard you were living on Mars with your future husband.”
“Michelle.” Gabrielle beamed at her sister. “It’s good to see you again! How are you and Ariel? Are you staying out of trouble?”
“We’re not getting into anywhere near as much trouble as you did when you were living here.” Michelle’s smile seemed nostalgic, as if she was remembering something fond. “It’s actually been pretty quiet. I think the only excitement we’ve had here is when Ariel let out King, and he rampaged through the palace.”
“Does that mean the Mr. Transporters I gave you and Ariel work?”
“Both of them work very well. Ever since you gave us those devices, we haven’t had any problems summoning our pets to play and sending them back before things get too hairy,” Michelle confirmed, much to Gabrielle’s pleasure. She always enjoyed it when her devices worked.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Gabrielle said honestly. “Listen, Michelle, I—”
“Dammit, Michelle!” a shout came from somewhere offscreen. “I thought I told you to keep those damn plants of yours out of my bath!”
“Oh, dear.” Michelle twirled a strand of hair between her fingers as she looked at something to her left. “Did I forget to take Carya out of the bath?” A giggle. “My apologies.”
“Don’t think you can get away with this by giggling cutely and apologizing! I know you did that on purpose!”
“I do not know what you’re talking about.”
“Like hell you don’t!”
“Is that Ariel?” Gabrielle asked. A gasp came from offscreen, followed by the stamping of feet. Before too long, Ariel was shoving Michelle out of the way to greet her.
“Big Sis!” The angry shouting disappeared to be replaced by joyful shouting.
“Hi, Ariel!” Gabrielle smiled at her second younger sister. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” Ariel said, and then she scowled. “I’d be better if Michelle would remember to keep her damn plants out of the bath.”
Michelle sighed. “I have already apologized for that. I’m not sure what more you expect from me.”
“How about not letting your plants in the bath?”
“But Carya does so love the hot water.”
Gabrielle knew her sisters quite well. While they might think that she didn’t know about how they constantly argued, she wasn’t ignorant. She knew how they worked. Michelle would bait Ariel into getting angry by teasing her and feigning ignorance, and Ariel would respond by getting riled up and overreacting, eventually leading to a fight. However, she had called them for a reason, and it was not to see her two sisters fighting.
“Michelle, I need your help.”
“Oh?” The fighting halted before it could begin. Michelle turned to more fully focus on Gabrielle. “Do tell. What is it that you need help with?”
“I am having a bit of trouble with Alex.”
“Alex? Is that the person whom you have decided to marry?”
Gabrielle smiled at the thought of marrying Alex. Just hearing someone else say it made her heart feel all warm and fuzzy.
“Yes, it is.”
“He’s not getting too grabby, is he?” a scowling Ariel asked before Michelle could say anything. “If he is, I’ll be more than happy to sic King on him for you.”
“No, no. He’s not being too grabby.” Gabrielle waved her arms in front of her face to disabuse her sister of the notion. She didn’t know what “grabby” meant, but she didn’t think that term suited Alex.
“What is the problem, then?” asked Michelle.
Gabrielle was all too happy to inform Michelle of her relationship troubles. The two girls on the other end listened as she told them about her lack of progress, about how Alex didn’t seem to be responding to her feelings because of the marriage candidates, and the frustration that she felt at her impotency in this matter.
“... It’s all Papa’s fault,” Gabrielle finished with a pout. “If it wasn’t for him trying to set me up with these arranged marriages, Alex wouldn’t think I was only with him to keep from being married off. And now there’s this other girl who seems to like him, and she even went on a date with him before I did. It’s not fair.”
“You may be right,” Michelle admitted. Meanwhile, Ariel seemed to be growing red in the face. “However, if it weren’t for Papa trying to force you into an arranged marriage, then you would have never run away in the first place and thus, you would have never met Alex.”
“That is true,” Gabrielle mused. “I suppose I’ll have to thank Papa sometime.”
“Anyway,” Michelle continued, “I assume you’re calling to ask me for help in making your man fall in love with you, yes?”
“That’s right.”
Michelle’s gleaming eyes would have disturbed anyone else. Gabrielle was so used to them that she hardly noticed.
“In that case, I would happy to—”
“That damn idiot!” Ariel suddenly roared, startling Gabrielle and Michelle, who didn’t have time to so much as squawk before Ariel grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her away from the console. “Come on, Sis! We’re going to Mars! I’m gonna give that jerk a piece of my mind!”
“Oh, dear,” Michelle murmured as she disappeared from view.
Gabrielle listened to Ariel’s receding stomps, then the slamming of a door, which she thought was odd because their doors were automatic and couldn’t slam. After that, she just sat there, staring at the screen. It hadn’t been turned off and was simply revealing an empty room. Slowly, she tapped a button that closed the communication.
The screen went black.
She leaned back in her seat.
“Does this mean Michelle is going to help me?” she wondered out loud.
AFTERWORD
No harem series is complete without at least one cute assassin character! Hello, everyone! You all thought this afterword would involve Dio, but it was really me, Brandon, the man who steals other people’s ideas—and stuff.
Back to my first sentence. While it’s not necessarily a standard of the harem series, I believe that having an assassin character in your harem romantic comedy has become something of a trope these days. Most people who know harem manga and think “assassin” will probably go straight to Golden Darkness, aka Yami-chan—the assassin from To Love Ru. I’m sure any fan will notice that while Nyx’s powers are based on alchemy, it is very similar to Yami-chan’s transphase ability. I sort of mixed the idea of Yami with the alchemy from Full Metal Alchemist.
Assassins play a huge role in Japanese culture. Duh. Ninja are from Japan. However, with the advent of moe culture, assassins have gone from being these grizzled men like what you might find in Ninja Scroll (Note, ninja scroll also had some hot female characters) to super cute girls.
My original idea was to make the assassin a male because I felt this was too close to To Love Ru. Even though that is the series that inspired this one, I do try to differentiate my series from that one. However, I ran into a problem with making the assassin male.
This is a harem series. A male assassin serves no purpose other than to be killed and yaoi jokes. A cute female assassin who can become a member of Alex’s harem is more suited to this series. Ultimately, the fact that my series is a harem means the assassin couldn’t be anything but a female character. I have no real desire to add a male to the harem.
Then I thought about giving Yami—I mean Nyx—a different power. My first idea was elemental based powers, but elemental powers aren’t suited for assassination. That’s when I decided on alchemy. If she could transmute anything she wants into a weapon, then she won’t get in trouble for carrying weapons. Of course, since she is a weapon, Nyx can also transmute her own body, but doing so comes at a cost, so she normally uses the bands around her wrist.
While I am worried that I’m straying too close to To Love Ru territory, I ultimately made the choice to stick with this idea because I c
ouldn’t think of anything else. Call me an untalented hack. Let’s face it, I’m not the next JK Rowling.
Before I head off, there are several thanks I would like to give.
I want to first thank XuaHanNin, the artist who provided all of my illustrations. She does an excellent job. Her art is very sexy.
I would also like to thank my editors and proofreaders. They made my English a lot better. Nobody likes reading a story with bad Engwush. X3
Finally, I would like to thank my readers. I’m aware of how some people view this series, so I’m very happy to know there are those of you who enjoy reading it. Thank you so much for supporting me. No words will ever express how much your support means.
~Brandon Varnell
Have you been turned on to Brandon’s Light Novels yet?
Wait. That sounded kind of wrong.
Try out Brandon’s first original English light novel series!
AMERICAN KITSUNE
Volumes 1-7: A Fox’s Love, A Fox’s Tail, A Fox’s Maid, A Fox’s Family, A Fox’s Vacation, A Fox’s Mate, A Fox’s Revenge
THE EXECUTIONER SERIES
Volume 1: Succubus
Volume 2: Escape
ARCADIA’S IGNOBLE KNIGHT
Vol. 1-2: The Sorceress of Ashtown Part 1, The Sorceress of Ashtown Part 2
Follow me at www.varnell-brandon.com!
Or:
@AmericanKitsune
@BrandonBVarnell
Brandon Varnell
Brandon Varnell
brandonbvarnell
bvarnell1101.tumblr.com
A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol 4 Page 23
