Morning arrived, accompanied by the sound of an alarm. In Naoki's room, faintly lit by sunlight, Rei awoke from her master's bed.
Drawing the curtains and seeing the bright morning outside, she stretched her body.
"Another sunny day—did you wake up too, my other self?"
[Woke up at the same time as you. Good morning.]
"Same to you, good morning."
Rei and Manaka always had a good relationship. Though they occasionally argued over time-sharing, usage rights, and hierarchy, overall their relationship was quite harmonious. After all, they were essentially the same person. Currently, they even shared one body—they had no choice but to get along.
Of course, a more important reason was that they didn't want to worry others. If they caused their master to worry, that would be backward. Though admittedly, making their master worry did feel nice sometimes.
Rei didn't have her own wardrobe, nor did she need to wash her face or brush her teeth. As a Mystic Code made from a Philosopher's Stone, she only needed to reconstruct her body to clean herself.
Clothing was the same. She didn't need to wear clothes—she could manifest any outfit anytime, anywhere. This was also one of the reasons she was so beloved by her master. Unexpectedly, he had a deep fondness for various uniforms. And since these were manifested clothes, he never had to worry about waste. Even if they tore, he could just summon a new one instantly.
A duplicate of one of the seven main weapons of the Atlas Institute—Rei knew exactly what her original body was now. But she cherished the abilities that came with it more than her weapon-like nature.
Because her master loved her.
"What should I wear today? The master is returning today. Should I wear the maid uniform like during the Mystic Eyes Collection Train incident, pretending to be a servant to welcome him home? What do you think, Manaka?"
[Isn't that too cliché? We wore the maid uniform just a week ago. It's too soon to repeat it.]
"Then, how about changing the stockings to black-and-white thigh-highs?"
"The white ones with garters would be better, and just white."
"That's true. But that means we'll need to slightly adjust our body shape—otherwise, we can't fully express that feeling."
Because of the other self within her, Rei didn't spend much time dressing up like other women. Moreover, she had only one fashion principle: as long as the master liked it.
So—
"Hmm, this should be enough."
A white lace-trimmed apron, a black dress with a slightly shorter skirt, white gartered thigh-highs, a hair ribbon, and a subtly modified girl's figure.
Standing in front of the mirror, she held her skirt and spun several times. After confirming there were no major issues, Rei smiled contentedly: "Good. Today, I'll welcome the master home in this outfit. Coincidentally, tonight is our turn. It's quite troublesome that our 'coincidental' turn happened to fall on today."
[Midnight is mine.]
"Okay. But if you can't handle it, I'll come out myself."
"You too. Don't make me come out earlier than planned."
Rei was the earliest riser in the apartment. Though she was a maid, she was also the caretaker of the entire Camelot Apartment. She had to prepare three meals a day, clean the apartment, and wake everyone up.
In Camelot Apartment, there weren't many lazy people. Rei and Gray, as caretakers, went without saying. Artoria and Okita, as swordswomen, were always disciplined. They would wake up on their own for morning training without needing Rei to wake them. In their opinion—even in times of peace, physical training must never be neglected.
Both of them were now Heroic Spirits who had obtained real bodies. They had tangible forms. If their bodies weren't trained regularly, they would weaken—a result they refused to accept.
And the newly arrived Miss Crane was similar. But compared to those two punctual risers, Miss Crane didn't "wake up"—she simply never slept at all. She was indeed a huge fan of beautiful girls. Seeing so many lovely girls in Camelot Apartment, she was extremely excited. She constantly worked overtime designing new outfits.
If no one supervised her, she might work overtime until every outfit was complete. Besides, she was also a Heroic Spirit, so the concept of dying from exhaustion didn't apply.
Therefore, Rei didn't need to wake Miss Crane. On the contrary, she had to force her to sleep and rest—specifically by physically knocking her out.
Thus, the only two people Rei needed to wake were two: the apartment's sole tenant, Tohsaka Rin, and the apartment's "landlady" Merry.
The first because she often stayed up late researching Magecraft, so she couldn't wake up on her own in the morning.
The second simply because she was lazy.
And for such a lazy succubus, Rei's method of waking her up was slightly special—almost the opposite of what she used on Miss Crane.
Pushing open Merry's bedroom door, the first thing Rei saw upon entering was Merry lying in bed in disheveled clothes, as if having a rather inappropriate dream.
Succubi didn't need sleep. It had always been that way. When her master was around, Merry wouldn't sleep. Every night, she would sneak into her master's dreams in various forms to have fun. But now that her master was gone, she could only satisfy herself.
[She's most likely daydreaming. Give her a heavy blow, my other self.]
"Agreed."
Rei raised her right hand high, reconstructing her right arm into a large hammer. Then she slammed it down on the lazy heap in the bed!
*BAM!*
Accompanied by a loud crashing sound, Merry, who had been enjoying a pleasant dream, instantly woke up. She looked at Rei, who had returned to her original form, with slight resignation: "Can't you use a gentler method to wake me up, Rei?"
"All my gentleness belongs to the master. Nothing is left for you." Rei said with a smile. "And today is the day the master returns. As his first greeter, don't you plan to wake up early to welcome him?"
"But it seems you're already ready." Merry looked Rei up and down. "You're always ready to attack."
"Hmm—hmm? This reaction..."
Rei, who had just agreed, suddenly froze, then her lips slightly curled upward: "It seems the timing is perfect. Merry, hurry up and get dressed. I'll go down first. The master has returned."
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
In front of the Camelot Apartment.
Pulling his suitcase, Naoki looked at the building before him: "Sigh~~ finally back. I didn't pay attention to the time difference, so when we landed, it was still dark... Sorry, Ayaka, Ciel. We can sleep now."
"It's fine. I can still endure this level."
"Me too. I slept on the plane."
Ciel and Ayaka said they were fine. Then, both of them also looked at the Camelot Apartment before them.
This was the place that would become their future home?
(Called an apartment, but in reality, it's this guy's harem palace.)
(My older sister is inside...)
With different thoughts, Ciel and Ayaka both felt slightly tense. Of course, the reasons for their tension were different.
As for Naoki, he was completely unaware of their tension. He walked toward the door, took out his key, and naturally opened it. And as the door opened, a shadow immediately appeared in their view.
"Welcome back, Master."
Rei said this to Naoki with a smile on her face.
Normally, Naoki would respond and give her a hug. But now...
"You... my sister-in-law?"
"Eh? A-Ayaka?"
Seeing Ayaka appear behind Naoki, Rei, who had initially been overjoyed, froze in place.