Chapter 91. What Creature Is This?
Pestered for half a day, Xander still didn't reveal any of his plans.
Watching Bronya scratching her head in agony from curiosity, he kept a mysterious smile.
"Tsk. Even if you won't say it, we're in the same studio. There has to be something I can help with, right?"
She huffed, puffing at her bangs, then twisted his arm in displeasure.
"Um..."
Xander began to think seriously.
If it's half a month, I don't need to make the game itself.
I only need to produce the proposal, the general game mechanics, numbers, setting, interaction methods, and some character art...
He thought about it.
It didn't really seem to require Bronya, who doesn't focus on technical work.
A moment later, he looked at her and slowly said, "How about this—help me turn the design doc into a PPT?"
"...You want me to do that?!"
Who are you looking down on? Bronya instantly got annoyed.
Xander nodded. "To be fair, for PPT, Hatsune is way better than you. I'll just have her do it."
"You!!!"
"Don't rush it. Once my game proposal is approved, there'll be plenty to keep you busy."
He soothed Bronya in a gentle voice.
Her mood improved a lot, but she still unwillingly added, "There really isn't anything I can help with?"
"No... actually, there is!"
Simulating the workflow, Xander was about to shake his head when something occurred to him.
He fixed his eyes on the pleasantly surprised Bronya and said, "I'll sketch some rough drafts and provide text notes afterward. Then I'll need the three of you to use your imagination to color them in. Can you do it?"
Coloring is actually a pretty tedious process.
This job happens to be perfect for the three girls.
Their delicate imagination might even surprise him, while he only needs to nail the big framework.
"Of course!"
"Seele can do it too!"
Finally getting a chance to help her brother, Seele instantly got excited.
"If this concubine can help Husband, then..."
Hearing that, Xander stood up right away. "What are we waiting for? Let's go. Time waits for no one!"
Watching her son get completely worked up, Cocolia immediately had a full head of black lines.
She barked once, then said, "Look at the time. It's almost bedtime. Work can wait until tomorrow!"
"But..."
"Hmm?"
"Alright..."
Faced with a higher level of intimidation, Xander—about to protest—instantly shrank back, bowing his head while the three girls chuckled.
Can't be helped.
It's rare to see Xander eat humble pie.
"Here. Keys to your rooms."
Seeing her son instantly yield, Cocolia nodded in satisfaction and tossed over a ring of keys she'd prepared in advance.
Then she paused, smiled at Xander—who had just caught the keys—and said, "Remember to be safe~"
"?"
Cocolia didn't explain.
She just looked at them, smiling inexplicably.
After chatting with her a while longer, they finally left Cocolia's room.
Outside, they finally understood what Cocolia's words meant.
Looking at the ring with several identical keys, Xander looked up at the sky.
Bronya clasped her hands behind her back and turned her head away.
Kaguya lowered her head, cheeks flushed.
Seele's face also turned rosy in an instant.
She looked at the numbers on the keys and murmured, "B-brother, the number looks like it's for your room."
"Mm..."
Thanks to Cocolia, the excitement in Xander's heart switched from one kind of excitement to another.
A separate room, and keys to the main door for all of them.
Doesn't that mean if they lock the door, no one will know what happens inside?!!
Add in Cocolia's personal "hint," and the resistance in Seele and Bronya's hearts melted away.
Without thinking, they subconsciously accepted the fact that the four of them would be sleeping in one room.
Real mom.
Absolutely the real mom.
She's so good to us, I'm gonna cry.
His gaze drifting, Xander tried to change the subject. "Didn't expect my room to still be kept. Auntie didn't assign it to other kids."
Brother, think before you speak.
We've come back so many times—how could you not know that?!!!
Though she was shy herself, Seele still couldn't hold back a coquettish glare at her brother.
Xander quickly noticed the hole in his story and gave an awkward smile. "I-it's late. Let's go rest..."
"Mm."
"S-Seele is getting a little sleepy too..."
"This concubine..."
The four of them walked together toward the dorm wing in silence.
Quietly.
No one spoke along the way.
Not until they arrived at a door painted with cute patterns did Kaguya's curiosity suppress her shyness for a while.
Watching Xander unlock the door and switch on the lights, the scene inside made Kaguya's eyes go wide.
Because Husband is her favorite person, Kaguya naturally wants to learn more about him.
Now, this childhood room where Husband grew up was undoubtedly a treasure trove to her.
Seele noticed the curiosity in Kaguya's eyes—maybe also to ease the awkwardness.
She let out a long breath, then took Kaguya by the hand into the room and began introducing each small item from her memory one by one.
"This is Brother's desk.
This is a model he built.
This is the prank box he used.
And this? This is a picture Seele drew of me and Brother's marri... ahem, nothing."
While Seele worked hard to satisfy Kaguya's curiosity, Bronya, on the other hand, frowned at the big bed in the corner that looked a bit messy.
Was it not cleaned... or...
She glanced at Xander, signaling him to stay put.
Then Bronya, brows knit, tiptoed step by step to the bedside.
Staring at the obvious hump in the middle, she pinched the edge of the quilt and yanked it up.
Right after, a noisy racket filled the room.
"Wah—wah—wah—wah! So bright, so bright! My eyes! I'm going blind! What happened, Liliya?!!!"
"How should I know, you idiot Rozaliya."
Seeing the pink-and-blue twin sisters—Rozaliya and Liliya—rolling around on the bed in risqué maid outfits, clutching their eyes, Bronya's face instantly turned dark.
She asked in a stern voice, "Why are you two here?"
Once their eyes adjusted to the light, the twins finally understood the situation they were in.
"This isn't your room."
Looking at Bronya, Liliya answered coolly, not backing down.
Looking past Bronya, she spotted their Brother not far away, smiling and waving at them.
"This is clearly Brother's room. I should be asking why you're here, huh?!"
Hands on hips, Rozaliya puffed out her chest in that shameful maid outfit that barely covered the important parts, and fumed.
Back then, they could still be half little tag-alongs around Brother like Seele.
But ever since Bronya showed up, their living space had been squeezed dry!
In their minds, Bronya was a big demon king, forever mocking them: "Hahaha! There's no place for you by Brother's side anymore!"
The two little ones refusing to back down made Bronya lose her temper for a moment.
She couldn't help grabbing each by the scruff of the neck—their "fate handles"—and tossing them straight out of the room.
"Ow! You violent girl!"
"Oppose violence!"
Ignoring their protests, Bronya slammed the door shut with a bang, then locked the windows tight as well.
Dusting herself off as she got up, pink-haired Rozaliya pulled a face. "Liliya, our, um, our s-saucy plan failed."
Liliya sighed at that, frowning a little. "I didn't expect her to be so unreasonable."
"What do we do next?"
Throwing the sheet they'd clutched in a death-grip out with them over her shoulders, Rozaliya looked to her "brain."
"The enemy is strong and we are weak. A frontal clash is unwise. We should take the long view. Wrap the sheet tighter for me; it's cold out here."
"'Kay."
The oversized sheet wrapped around their "barely clothed" bodies, the two of them quickly melted into the darkness, vanishing like drifting ghosts.
Inside the room, Bronya clapped her hands, then looked at Xander—who had both hands raised like an innocent man. "Twin maids? Didn't know you were such a connoisseur~"
"I swear I had no idea."
"Really?"
"Really. Aside from this afternoon, when I used Aponia-sis's lap as a pillow and napped with Pardofelis, I've been with you all the time, okay?"
His frank words eased the crease between Bronya's brows.
She'd already broken her bottom line for him again and again, even agreeing to four people in one room.
If this guy still got greedy and called those two cute twins over, she'd truly be angry.
After finishing the grand tour, Seele and Kaguya came back over.
The four of them gathered around the bed.
An awkward silence blanketed the air.
After a long while, Xander finally asked in a small voice, "...Rest?"
......
At the gray break of dawn the next day, Xander opened his eyes amid a sea of softness.
Those pleasing "one shot three bangs" sorts of things, of course, did not happen.
The three had yielded to him this much already.
Naturally, he couldn't go overboard on the very first night.
Bronya and Kaguya were clinging tightly to his arms left and right, their warm breaths brushing his shoulders and making them itch a little.
Seele was sprawled on top of him.
Who knows what she was dreaming about.
Mouth open, she was biting and licking him, making a mess of his chest in no time.
He gently drew his two arms from the plains and hills, then softly moved Seele to the side.
Facing the morning sun, Xander stretched long in the room.
Thanks to staying out of trouble, a full night's rest left him brimming with energy.
He stepped out to wash up, then sat energetically at the desk in the room and took out the laptop he'd brought.
Powering on, a clearly just-awakened Hatsune rubbed her eyes.
While yawning, she cutely waved at him.
In the little text bubble it said: "Master, good morning~"
"Good morning, Hatsune."
Whispering a greeting, Xander began planning bit by bit.
Since time was short, the Pokémon sketches had to be drawn first so the girls could try coloring them.
Of course, if the results didn't satisfy him, he'd choose to handle the final versions himself.
Next was...
So, by the time Seele and the others woke up, they saw a back radiating enthusiasm at work.
"Up this early..."
Yawning, Bronya, wearing a half-fallen pajama top, slowly shuffled behind Xander.
Eyes still closed, she wrapped both arms around his neck, planted a kiss on his cheek first, and then spoke.
"Mm. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep."
Just thinking that such a divine work was about to be born, he was dreaming of work even in his sleep.
"Mm..."
Still groggy, Bronya rested her cheek on his head.
Her chest weighed down against him.
Lines of text reflected in her eyes on the screen, but her stalled brain couldn't make out a word.
Seele and Kaguya also got up one after another, their pajamas messy as well.
Copying Bronya, they stood at Xander's left and right.
A sweet fragrance surrounded him.
Xander's typing slowed.
In a situation like this, it's hard to focus on work.
Just in time—it was about breakfast anyway.
He stood up helplessly, then gave out three good-morning kisses, and they changed clothes and headed out the door together.
Breakfast was just simple congee.
No one knows what magic Kalpas used, but a simple bowl was not only delicious—his whole body felt warm after drinking it, satisfied like he'd eaten a mountain of carbs.
After eating, and after spending a lot of effort shaking off the little shorty who clung to him, Xander returned to the room and got briskly back to work.
At that time, the three girls also received the sketches Xander handed them.
Three little heads gathered at the same computer.
Squeezed together, they opened the first file, ready to let Xander witness their unbridled imagination.
Soon, the sketch opened.
A strange creature drawn with simple lines appeared on the screen.
A round, chubby outline.
Ears sticking up.
And a zigzag tail like a lightning bolt behind it.
"This is... a fat rat?" Kaguya asked doubtfully.
"Seele thinks it's pretty cute.
Based on Brother's notes below, the main body color of this creature should be yellow, with brown stripes on its back..."
Seele pointed to a line of small text at the bottom and read it out loud.
Hearing that, Bronya smiled and said, "So this thing should be called a yellow-skin mouse, huh?"
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