"It seems that energy isn't affecting her body, rather, it is reshaping it to adapt to it" said Kaito.
Inside, he felt slightly excited.
'I obtained my current species from an SSS level reward in an easy world, but since it was a serialized world, it is almost comparable to a mid level one. Now she is evolving thanks to a proper mid level world, what will she become?' he thought in anticipation.
"If Kaito says so, then it must be true" said Ai, letting out a sigh of relief, fully trusting him.
"Then...", said Kaito as he looked at everyone, "this time there are no rewards to brag about since they were given to Kaguya, but what has happened during this time?"
"Honestly... a lot has happened" Ai replied, and the rest nodded in silence.
"To begin with, we spent forty years in that world."
"Forty years?" Kaito was surprised. He already thought his eight years were a long time, but they had spent five times more.
"Yes, we were very lost at the beginning. The name you gave us, Light Yagami, did not exist, we found no trace of him anywhere.
With no clues, we could only investigate the most obvious thing, the Holy Britannian Empire. We spent years investigating it and eventually began to suspect the king's abilities, so we ended up creating a sort of organization that opposed the country. Curiously, the easiest part was when we finally confirmed that the king had one of those objects, since it was simply a matter of attacking, killing, and taking it. Before doing so, we interrogated him and managed to get him to tell us that there were ten objects in the entire world.
From there, it was just a matter of expanding, growing more and more while searching for clues all over the world. Although quite a few things happened along the way."
"Kirito and Asuna got married" said Mashiro, who had been silent until now, nodding occasionally while smiling at the memory.
"They got married?" Kaito did not expect that.
"Yes, I must say those were the happiest years of my life, and I hope it stays that way" said Kirito.
"That's right, of course, always serving you in your purpose" added Asuna.
"What happened to you two?" Kaito asked, noticing their extremely formal and somewhat... knightly way of speaking.
Ai sighed as she looked at the pair, already used to their strange way of talking.
"Well, during the time we were there, Kirito took the path of the sword too seriously, he focused on it so much that he ended up becoming something like a sword sage who speaks in riddles, like in novels. Asuna picked up some of that from being with him all the time... it will pass, I guess" she explained.
"Do not worry, Lord Kaito" said Kirito as he drew his sword and stabbed it into the ground before kneeling like a knight of old swearing loyalty, "no matter what happens, I will always serve you. During these years I understood that my purpose was to reach the end of the path of the sword, but after that, what then? What is the use of a sword capable of cutting mountains? The answer is simple, for my lord."
'A bit chuunibyou, but I like it,' Kaito thought.
"Alright, get up" said Kaito, then quickly asked about the rest, "I accept your loyalty. What about the others?"
"Well... Arima and Kaori also got married, but they were already a couple, so it was not that surprising" said Ai.
Just as Ai said, Kaito was not too surprised by this, but it was still interesting.
"Really? And those two?" he asked, pointing at Eriri and Tomoya.
"Actually, we are a couple too" said Tomoya while holding Eriri's hand and smiling.
Before Kaito could be surprised that Eriri had made progress with her personality, reality showed him the truth.
"N-no we are not! What are you saying? Let go" said Eriri, trying to pull away from Tomoya without using much strength.
Kaito looked at Ai, but she only shrugged.
'Well, at least he is not that dense anymore' he thought.
It seemed they were at that stage of more than friends but less than lovers, where Tomoya knew about Eriri's feelings and even felt the same, but Eriri's personality prevented them from truly moving forward.
"And you two?" Kaito asked, looking at Hikigaya and Miura.
"I hate him" they both said at the same time.
"Or at least that is what I would have said forty years ago, or yesterday, it is the same. The point is, I realized they were just teenage arguments. I cannot say I get along with her, but we no longer argue like children as before" explained Hikigaya.
"I see... so, did you get a girlfriend?"
"Well...", Hikigaya scratched his head, uncomfortable.
"Pfft" Miura interrupted with a laugh before mocking him, "him? Get a girlfriend? He is a virgin, completely a virgin even after fifty."
"And what about you? Aren't you the same?" Hikigaya shot back, irritated by her attitude.
"How can you speak like that about a lady's purity? That is why you are still single. And just so you know, if it is a man it is embarrassing, but if it is a lady like me, it is maintaining purity."
"Huh? What outdated and ridiculous ideas. That is sexism" Hikigaya replied.
"You...!"
'They still have a long way to go' Kaito thought as he watched them argue just like always.
Ignoring the argument, he looked at the rest.
"No one permanent, it is hard to find good men" said Utaha with a sigh, though Kaito noticed she glanced subtly at Tomoya after saying that.
Eriri noticed it and, like a cat guarding its food, positioned herself defensively in front of Tomoya.
"You must be the only man who notices me" said Megumi when Kaito's gaze turned to her, then, realizing what she said, added, "I did not mean to imply anything."
Kaito kept looking at the rest.
"Impossible, I would never be with someone who does not compare to..." Chika stopped halfway, blushed, and looked down, as if that could really hide anything.
'That reminds me...' Kaito thought and reduced his aura, having learned to do so in the last world, but he noticed nothing changed in Chika's expression.
'Then maybe it was always like that.'
"Impossible. If I were with someone without his approval, my father would come destroy this universe" said Lala, half joking and half serious, "besides, I cannot be with someone while Kaito is chasing me, it is a basic rule of romance" she added with an amused smile.
'Since when am I chasing her?'
"And her?" Kaito asked, looking at Kaguya floating inside the bubble.
Everyone fell silent, looking at each other as if deciding who would say it.
"What is it?"
Ai hesitated for a second before stepping forward and showing him a photo on her phone.
As soon as he saw it, Kaito was left speechless. It was Kaguya, yes, but her body was extremely aged, as if she had lived over a hundred years, her body was thin to the point of being skeletal and her face barely retained any flesh.
"It is Kaguya-sama... ten years in the future" Ai explained. "It seems she ages much faster than a normal person, but once she reaches a certain point, her age stops. We believe it has to do with her race, Shinigami. That is why when she discovered she could evolve, she got so excited, she even promised to give us triple if we gave her our points."
"I see... that is insane" said Kaito.
"But it is not all bad" Ai added. "I have another photo, months later, when she looks like a mature woman. She looks incredible, even more than we expected."
She said this while sending several images to Kaito of a mature Kaguya, looking at him with a smile full of unspoken meaning.
"Finally, what about you?" Kaito asked, looking at Mashiro.
Mashiro looked at him with a slight pout of feigned indignation and ignored him.
"Kaito, do not bother her" said Koneko.
Kaito was surprised to notice that the girl was sitting on his lap at that moment.
"Since when have you been there?" he asked, confused.
"Since the beginning. You were even petting me this whole time."
"Really? I did not notice... sorry."
"It is fine. It means you missed me" said Koneko, guiding his hand back to her head. "Even if for me it was only a day, you were alone for a long time, right? You can pet me as much as you want."
"Me too" said Mashiro as she approached and, to Kaito's surprise, even hugged him on her own.
"Looks like your hands are full" said Ai as she appeared from the shadows.
"Me too" added Hope.
Before he realized it, Kaito ended up with four girls on top of the throne, two on his lap and two on the armrests.
'This is a bit uncomfortable' he thought.
Fortunately, the throne, despite looking like stone, was made of some unknown material that was surprisingly comfortable.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)